Sanctuary: Tayla Akhkharu
by Sanctuaria
Summary: When fifteen-year-old Tayla Casparian is ripped from everything and everyone she loves and is changed by the Cabal, she fears there's only one path she can take-until she meets some very special people who give her a new life and show her another way to view the world. TV-14 LV
1. Hero: And Rescue, But Not of the Rescue

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events, settings, or anything else taken from the TV show _Sanctuary_. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Chapter 1: Hero – and Rescue, But Not of the Rescue**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_MAGNUS: The Cabal are a powerful shadow organization bent on controlling all abnormal life on the planet._

_DRUITT: The war is begun._

_MAGNUS: Pitting humans against abnormals, deciding who lives and who dies, the Cabal has to be stopped, that's why I started this mission more than a century ago._

_DRUITT: We were a part of something, something we called The Five. A small group dedicated to expanding our knowledge of the physical world. Your mother managed to procure a very rare sample of ancient untainted vampire blood. Blood that supposedly possessed miraculous properties._

_DANA WHITCOMB: Your mother and her colleagues will no doubt try to stop us. I promise you they'll fail. They'll fail because…you're going to help us complete our plan._

_ASHLEY: What did you do to me?_

_DANA: You're going to die today, Ashley._

_MAGNUS: We're too late._

_DANA: Thank you Ashley. You've been everything we could have hoped for. Welcome to your rebirth._

_MAGNUS: Ashley? What have they done to you?_

_TESLA: They used the Source Blood to change her._

_MAGNUS: It's not going to stop there. There'll be more just like her very soon!_

_DANA: Six operatives are now ready for deployment._

_MAGNUS: Name?_

_KATE: Kate Freelander. For the record, I'm not Cabal._

May 24, 2010

I was only fifteen when they took me. I remember the day clearly, May 24th. They came up in big black vans, taking me from the arms of my screaming mother. And then they shot her. There was no reason. She was on her knees, screaming, pleading, crying, begging them to take her instead of me. There was no one around to hear her. They loaded me in one of the cars, an easy task now that I was incapacitated by grief.

That's probably why they didn't bother to blindfold me, or stick a sack over my head. We drove a long way, and on a very bumpy road. Every time the car jostled, my head hit the hard back of the seat, building into a heavy headache that wasn't entirely unwelcome. It dulled the grief I felt. My mother had warned me they would come for me. Whoever _they_ were. She wouldn't explain why though. All she would say was, in her soft, patient, sad voice, "Experiments."

Why me? Why not any other teenage girl in the big city? I guess it was because my father was gone. We didn't know whether he was dead, or just…gone. Still, there were other kids without fathers out there. Tons of them. So why me? By the time the van pulled up at a fancy-looking business building in a huge city, my thinking was dulled to a faint whisper in my head. The doors on the back of the car opened and my numb body tumbled out, hitting the hard floor. Pain lanced up my body, pushing me into oblivion.

When I woke up, I was strapped onto a metal table in a medium sized room with white-washed walls. An IV was hooked into my arm, and I felt no pain except my pounding headache, which was steadily getting worse as whatever drugs they were pumping into me took effect. The hard steel table I was strapped to felt as soft as a cloud, and everything around me was fuzzy and had a slight dream-like quality. There was a babble of voices outside the door, along with the footsteps of many people busy rushing about outside. The blue door opened, and I could tell by their shadows that it was a man and a woman. I tried to crane my neck around to see who it was, but there was a shackle around my head too, restricting my movement. My brain felt fuzzy, and I couldn't think straight. Nothing about this felt wrong to me, so I wasn't scared. I thought maybe this was a hospital, full of doctors who would fix me back up and send me back home as soon as possible. My mother's death must have been a hallucination from whatever disease I was suffering from, and when I got back home she would be waiting for me, her sad smile and warm comforting arms waiting for me to fall into. One of the people came over to me, and I looked at her expectantly. "She's awake," she told her companion, "Any idea when we can begin?"

"Soon, I should think," a gruff man's voice said from somewhere behind me, "They've already released the first wave. Magnus and her team should be getting the blood by now."

"Good," the woman said, "I would hate to keep her locked up in here for too long of a wait." She smiled down at me. I should have been reassured, but her eyes ruined the "I'm a kind person I'm not going to hurt you" image. I could tell they no longer viewed me as a human being, just a test subject with no feelings, squashing my hospital daydream. The realization that it was all real, that this wasn't a hospital, that these weren't doctors hit me all at once. I scrunched down on the table, trembling slightly. The woman clucked her tongue and said, "Oh don't worry young one. By the time we're done with you, nothing will scare you." She smiled a cruel smile, turning my blood to ice. She then looked at me one last time and walked away out of my view.

The man left soon after, leaving me on the cold metal table while the woman typed away on a computer in the far side of the room. Terrified as I was, I slept for a while that night. I was woken up when the door opened again with a careless bang, and a person in a white lab coat came in. "All has gone as planned. We have the blood. The Lazarus trick was a success."

"Good. Good. It is time to begin. Bring me a syringe of the Source Blood, and we'll get started right away," the woman said. She looked down at me, smiling, "It's okay, darling. You'll be so much better than before. I promise. You might even be more powerful than Ashley. You will be very, very useful to the Cabal." The man held out a small syringe filled with dark red blood to the woman, who took it reverently, as if she was holding pure gold. She held it up to the light and flicked the needle. With a swift downward motion, she stabbed it mercilessly into my arm. My body was on fire, my muscles melting like butter, and I would have thrashed around on the table had I been able to command my burning arms. The woman watched me, taking hurried notes on her clipboard. My eyes closed as the burning intensified, and I was awoken with a jolt as all the fire stopped. "You have some long days ahead of you, Juliana," the woman said as she patted my arm. My body felt warm and cold at the same time, and I was shivering.

"That's not my name," I managed to get out.

She smiled down at me. "It is now."

Days and days went by after that. I remember waking up, and feeling a stab in my arm each morning. I would never get used to that, and the Cabal doctors were anything but gentle with their syringes. But most of all, I remember changing. Not just my body—my thought processes, the way I smelled, tasted, saw, and heard. At first they brought me cranberry juice to drink at noon, but that gradually changed…to blood. I knew what it was. The human part of me was grossed out. The human part of me didn't understand what was happening. The human part of me was also getting smaller by the day. The other part, the changed part, the new part, loved it. The blood made me feel good, more alive than I had ever felt in my life. And besides, while I was enjoying my blood-drink, I heard snippets of conversation. Important conversation, held between officials, doctors, nurses, psychologists, and, of course, chemists like the ones changing me.

At the start of my imprisonment, the voices had sounded excited. Then one day they were angry. From what I could make out, Magnus had destroyed the girl named Ashley (whoever they were), and I was the Cabal's only hope. They were upset that I was nowhere near ready to go into battle. I heard one of them say that I had the vampiric qualities, but I couldn't teleport or turn invisible yet. That made no sense to me. I mean, no one could teleport or be invisible. Right?

Their treatment of me changed gradually. At the beginning of my imprisonment, I had been strapped to a cold metal table. I was escorted with chains held firmly to wherever they wanted me to go. Later on, they moved me to a different room with a real bed, but still used a super-strong mesh material to attach my left wrist to the bedpost. Along with these changes, I soon realized my body was majorly changing. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. At first, I had wished with all my heart that none of this had ever happened, that my mother was still alive, and that we were fishing by the lake together like we sometimes do. Gradually that changed too though. I hated myself for it. But the Cabal psychologists were good. I found myself starting to believe their wild, fantastic stories, and I began to want to serve the Cabal. I was glad my mother was dead. I believed the Cabal were good people, and that this Magnus person wanted creatures called abnormals to rule the world. I believed my sole purpose of existing was to destroy her and her team, she who would destroy her own race to help abnormals rise to the top. But not her own race, they taught me. She was part vampire, sort of like me. I learned her history, about how she and the rest of The Five injected themselves with vampire blood and she got the gift of longevity. I learned about her daughter, Ashley, and how the Cabal used her against Magnus but failed. The Cabal psychologists moved through that part pretty quickly, focusing more on Magnus's evil and betrayal to her species by injecting herself.

I felt sorry for Magnus, for losing her daughter, and that was the one thing they didn't count on. My empathy. My compassion. It led me to not fully believe their side of the story. I was doubtful if the Cabal were the kind, good people they made themselves out to be because they had taken Ashley and me forcibly from our mothers, and changed us. Ashley was actually used as a weapon against Magnus! I was confused about good and evil, and about who wanted to rule the world and who didn't. Still, I had enough sense to play along.

Soon they began teaching me new things, bizarre things. I learned how to turn into a full vampire at will, which made my nails and teeth become long and end in sharp points. I could jump really high, and I healed almost instantly. While in that form my pupils dilated and my voice changed. My thoughts while transformed were more focused too. More brutal, but more focused nonetheless. I took the time to think out the dilemmas in my life. To resist or not to resist. What to believe and what not to believe. I decided not to trust the Cabal or Magnus until I actually met them. Of course, I had met the Cabal, but I mean met their leader, being able to judge her face to face, not just her pets trained to conceal their real thoughts and emotions behind a mask of caring and kindness.

The procedure I was going through gave me ample time to think. Based on the stories they were teaching me as fact, I figured out pretty much why they were doing this to me. I was going to be their weapon, a tool for them to use. I didn't want to, but this place's security was as tight as a drum. There was no escape. I was going to be their puppet, doing whatever they asked me to with one pull of the string. Steal whatever they wanted. Kill whoever they wanted. They were setting me on a path surrounded by lava. If I deviated from this one straight path, I would die. All I could do was keep moving forward, and that was exactly how they wanted it. If they told me to kill, I would, no matter what damage it did to my soul. I was set on the path, and I had to follow it. I would be consumed in darkness.

I had no idea how much time was passing or had passed, but one night I was led back to my room by a Cabal doctor in a white lab suit. As usual, I glanced behind me, getting the feeling someone was watching me. No one was there. The doctor opened the door and I went inside. She followed me in and I walked to the bed and placed my wrist by it and waited for her to get the metal webbing to strap me to the bed. She looked around and frowned. She opened the gray drawers at the other end of the room, searching for what she needed. I watched her interestedly. She poked her head outside the door and stopped one of her colleagues. He peered in the room, clipboard in hand. He was African-American and wore a long white lab coat just like the woman. He spoke softly, but with my newly enhanced hearing, I could hear his low voice.

"You're missing the titanium webbing to strap her to the bed? I think the last one was used on Danaka. It's all right, we're getting a fresh shipment Wednesday morning. Juliana has a perfect record, no misbehaviors at all. Just strap her in with something else and don't tell her." The woman came back in the room and bustled around the drawers. She found a pair of handcuffs and locked one end around my wrist and the other around the pole of the bed. She left and I pulled the scant covers up with my free hand.

Only two days later, I was sleeping in my room on the bed, my wrist held by the metal cuff to the bedpost when there was a loud crash in the hallway and the door burst open. A tall, bald, sinister looking man walked in followed by another vampire, eyes blackened with a fiery rage. I could tell he was in full vampire mode, his nails extended all the way out, and teeth looking like they had been filed to sharp points. I extended my own claws, and sliced through the restraints like a knife through butter. I jumped to my feet, moving with inhuman swiftness toward the tall dude; sure that he couldn't match my speed. I was wrong. He grabbed my arm and his friend's too, and the room vanished with a flash of red light.

We reappeared in another room, but this one felt much more pleasant than the Cabal one. The man released my arm and it completed its downward swipe, although instead of slicing him I shredded a file folder on the desk. I was so surprised at where I was that my body reverted back to human form. It was some sort of office, with many armchairs, most of them facing a desk where a woman sat. The desk I was standing by was covered in papers, not so neatly filed. Some art covered the walls, including what looked like a first-grader's drawing above the door. The name _Ashley_ was written on the bottom right in sloppy letters.

"John…what?" the woman asked, getting up swiftly from the desk and coming toward me.

"We found her in the labs. They definitely used the Source Blood on her," the tall guy replied.

The woman went over to the computer and hit a button. "Henry? Get the EM shield up and running," she said urgently.

A male voice came through the intercom, "Why? Has Druitt...?"

"It is not me this time," the man I assumed was Druitt said back, "We found a girl in the Cabal labs. They've used the Source Blood on her."

"It's up," Henry called a few seconds later.

"Thank you," the woman said, and then she turned back to me.

"What's your name?" she asked gently.

I narrowed my eyes. "Which one, the one the Cabal gave to me or my real name?"

"Whichever you prefer," she replied.

"Tayla," I answered, "Tayla Casparian."

"How do you feel, Tayla?" she asked kindly.

"Who are you? What is this place?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"I'm Dr. Helen Magnus, and I run this place, the Sanctuary, where all sorts of abnormals can be safe."

"I've heard of you," I said distrustfully, "From the Cabal. How do I know that you're not the bad people? They told me that you sought to have humans serve abnormals!"

Magnus, Druitt, and the other guy who I later learned was Tesla launched into a story of the Lazarus virus. According to them, the Cabal dropped a virus down from the sky causing abnormals to attack humans. The virus spread via the wind currents, bringing it south. Magnus had agreed to let her daughter and Henry, the EM shield guy, break into the Cabal database from inside one of their facilities while The Five retrieved the Source Blood from Bhalasaam, an ancient vampire city. They believed the Source Blood could be a cure for the virus. They successfully completed the tests and avoided the traps and received the blood, but Ashley and Henry were captured. Druitt rescued them, but Ashley was changed (kind of like me) and brainwashed during her imprisonment. She stole the blood and gave it to Dana Whitcomb, the Cabal leader. Soon there were six super vampires, with Ashley as the leader, all of them working for the Cabal. The Cabal used them to destroy Sanctuaries around the world before they got to this one. Nikola Tesla, part of The Five, the other vampire guy, had designed a weapon that was effective against them. They defended this Sanctuary, and Ashley ended up breaking the mind control drug long enough to save her mother and the Sanctuary. She grabbed the last super-vamp and teleported while the EM shield was up, killing them both.

When the story had finished, Magnus put her hand on my arm in a comforting gesture, but I backed away quickly, slamming into a table at the unfamiliar touch. She withdrew her hand.

"How do you feel?" Magnus asked again.

"Okay, I guess. What…what am I now?" I asked guardedly.

Tesla answered me, "You're like me. Heir to the greatest race that ever lived. Sanguine Vampiris! We ruled for a golden age of progress, where—"

"Nikola!" Magnus gave him a look that clearly said: "Stop it! Your ego speaks for you!" She turned back to me. "Though Nikola's version may have been…twisted, slightly, he is correct. You are a vampire, like him. The Cabal created you, but that doesn't matter. You can stay here. Use your gifts to help us in our work," she said, "I'll have Will get a guest room ready, whatever you decide."

"Okay," I replied. I tentatively decided to trust Magnus. It wasn't like I had a choice. There was no way she would just let me go, to walk the streets, a monster she couldn't control. I also sensed truth in her story, whereas the Cabal version hadn't exactly made sense.

A handsome guy with tan hair walked in. He had his mouth open about to say something when he noticed me. He raised an eyebrow at Magnus. She gave him a slight, almost imperceptible, nod.

"This is Tayla, Will. John and Nikola brought her back here from a Cabal lab. She's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Hello, Tayla. I'm forensic psychiatrist Will Zimmerman. I work with Dr. Magnus," he said to me.

"It's nice to meet you, Will," I said.

"I think guest room number twenty-seven on the residential floor would work," Magnus said. "Have Kate come in here if you see her, I need to talk to her about that red-list dealer on Sackamora Road."

Will nodded and then spoke to me again. "Follow me," he turned to Magnus, "And by the way, we have a sighting of the empath. Declan and I will head out there as soon as I get Tayla settled in."

"No, go with Declan," Magnus said decisively, "I'll have Kate show Tayla to her room."

"Okay," Will agreed.

Magnus nodded to Druitt and Tesla, and together the two headed off down the hall. Will also took off down the hallway.

"Kate!" I could hear him call down the hallway some way off, "Druitt and Tesla found a girl in the Cabal labs. Her name's Tayla, and Magnus wants you to show her to her room. Guest room twenty-seven on the western residential corridor." A few seconds later, another person walked into the room. She was around her mid twenties, with her clothes punk style. "Hi. I'm Kate," she said.

"Hi. I'm Tayla," I replied.

"I'll show you to your room," she turned and walked down a hallway. We went up a couple floors in the elevator, and stopped in front of a door with a plaque marked _Guest_. "Here we are!" Kate turned the knob and opened the door for me.

It was a big bedroom, bigger than mine at home. There was a dresser, bed, small desk, and a door to the bathroom. On the bed lay a small stack of papers. I went over to look and saw that they were maps of each floor of the Sanctuary. Wow, this place is huge. I thanked Kate and told her I'd see her later. She nodded and left the room, and I got the feeling she didn't really care that I was here; she had just acted like it in front of Magnus. I walked around and explored the room some more. The closet was empty except for some clothes hangers. When I was done poking around, I felt weird with nothing else to do, and slightly self-conscious and out of place. Without thinking about it, my ears began to extend their hearing down to the floors below. The soft hum of Magnus's voice led me through the maze of hallways to where Magnus and Kate were waiting for Will and Declan to get back.

It was sort of like a garage. A couple vans and even a motorcycle were parked in their designated spaces. Unlike the rest of the Sanctuary that I'd seen, this room was relatively undecorated, with just stone walls and a half empty bottle of wine on top of the wood frame shelf. Magnus seemed to notice it at the same time I did and I think she sighed and muttered, "Nikola." Then I saw there was someone else in the garage too. He was big and hairy, like a sasquatch. I immediately took a step backward. Kate, seeing my expression, said, "It's okay, he's friendly. This is the Big Guy." I nodded hello to the Big Guy, but didn't come any closer.

"There they are," Magnus said, pointing out towards two black specks in the distance. I wondered how she could see that, because I, a vampire, could barely. Then I remembered she was part vampire too, and she had had over a century of practice. Or maybe she just had good eyesight.

Will and the other guy I assumed was Declan climbed gingerly off their motorcycles, wincing. "What happened?" Magnus asked running over to help Will.

He groaned and said, "There was this fat superhero guy and he flew away with the empath…"

"Alright, let's go upstairs and see if there is any the security camera footage. Where were you when this happened?"

"Fernley Street, between buildings 601 and 603," answered Declan, rubbing his shoulder. They trooped upstairs, Will groaning with every step until the Big Guy gave him a shoulder to lean on. Magnus got to a computer and pulled up the security footage from the alley while Kate got an ice pack for Declan. Magnus, Kate, and I gathered around the computer to see the video. Kate took control of the mouse and we watched as a big fat guy in a maroon suit beat up the two men in black, Will and Declan. Kate backed up the video so she could watch the guy in the suit send Will sprawling again…and again…and again, backwards and forwards.

"Oh wait. This is my favorite part," Kate said as she watched the video.

"Look, I'm so pleased that my pain amuses you all," Will said.

"God, look at the whiplash on that baby!" Kate exclaimed as Will somersaulted over.

"Ohhh!" Will gasped in pain as the Big Guy rubbed his back.

"I'm checkin' for broken bones," the Big Guy said, slapping Will.

"Yeah, well, if you push any harder you'll find some!" Will said, wincing.

Still watching the footage, Magnus interrupted them. "How does he manage to fly like that without wings?" Magnus asked, "I've never seen an abnormal with that kind of ability before."

"Yeah, you know, I thought the same thing when my head bounced off the ground," Will said.

Magnus smiled, and said something else to Declan. "As for your flying man, I'm having Henry look into it."

I left the room for Henry's lab to see if I could help Henry search, even though I didn't really know what that entailed. After all, it was the least thing I could do in return for Magnus's hospitality and the one thing they did teach me about what I was becoming while I was the Cabal's prisoner was vampire history. Tesla hadn't been all wrong. Vampires had been the smartest creatures on Earth. Progress had occurred while the vampires ruled. I figured the most helpful place I could be was working with Henry. Plus, I had yet to meet him. I traveled back to my room to get my maps, and headed to the lab.

"Hi. Who're you?" Henry asked as I walked in.

"I'm Tayla. I'm the reason Dr. Magnus had you put up the EM shield. Which you can power down now; I can't teleport like Druitt."

"Okay," Henry said, and typed something on his computer. A blinking light on one of the machines shut off. I was surprised he believed me so easily.

As if she could read my mind, Magnus poked her head in the doorway. "You can't teleport can you?" she asked.

"No," I answered.

"I thought not," Magnus said, "All right. Will and I are leaving to check out an unidentifiable egg in a tunnel. We'll be back later, and I want to do some blood tests on you. Henry, why don't you show Kate and Tayla how to do the afternoon feeding?"

"Sure, Doc," Henry replied, "Oh, and by the way, Druitt and Tesla nabbed a van on their way out and left it on Old Bridge before they teleported off."

"All right, Henry, we'll pick it up on our way," she replied. She left the room.

"Any leads on the flying guy?" I asked him after she left, trying to be helpful.

"Not yet, but like she said, I gotta go show Kate how to feed the abnormals in the main lab. She's new here too, you know."

"She is? But she seems so…at home here."

"Yeah. But she's a good actress."

I followed him out of the lab and up in the elevators. We met Kate in the storage room, and Henry pulled up a cart of weird looking bugs, plant material, and things I couldn't even recognize. He pushed the cart into the main lab. I kind of zoned out for a while, looking at all the amazing creatures they had there. There was a mermaid—though it looked nothing like Ariel—and what looked like fire which burned in the form of an old man's face. The rest of the creatures I had no hope of describing, much less naming.

When I finally paid attention again, Henry was saying, continuing his instruction to Kate, "River banshee: fire shrimp. Word of advice: wear gloves. Shouldn't you be writing this down or something?"

"What for?" Kate asked.

"In case you need to fill in for me one day," he answered.

Kate laughed, "Yeah right," and walked up to a glass wall behind which was a bunch of fog. "Hey," she said as she banged on the glass, "what's in here?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Henry warned.

"Why not?" Kate asked. She peered into the fog again, still leaning against the glass. A long octopus-like tentacle slapped against the glass she was leaning on. "Ahhh!" she yelled, "Whoa!"

"Told you," Henry said, as he pushed the cart forward again. Just then Kate's cell phone rang. She stood there staring at it as it rang loudly. "You know, that sound generally means you should answer it," Henry told her. She looked up, nodded distractedly, and then answered it.

"Yeah?" she said into the cell phone. She paused, listening to the person at the other end. "Oh! I'll call you back," Kate said, hitting the end button.

"You okay?" Henry asked, looking at her.

Kate paused and then said, "Yeah. I gotta go." She hurried out of the room. We all stared after her.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"I have no idea," Henry said, "but c'mon, we'd better get going. The fire elemental tends to burn things up if we're late."

**~~o0o~~**

After we were done, we headed back to Henry's lab to take another crack at finding the superhero's secret identity.

"Henry," I asked, "What day is it?"

"Uh, the 14th, why?" he asked.

"The 14th of what?"

"September…2010." He looked at me quizzically.

"Okay, thanks," I replied, but my mind was buzzing. I'd been with the Cabal for four months. Magnus came in.

"Have you found anything Henry?" she asked.

"Looks like your mystery superhero's been busy," he said.

"Doing what exactly?" Magnus asked, joining us behind the computer.

Henry shrugged. "Everything it seems. Foiling robberies, beating up bad guys, and the best is this one," he clicked a video file.

"What am I looking at?" Magnus asked.

"Video of a jumper taken yesterday. Here check it out," Henry replied, moving aside. We watched as the man jumped off the top of the building and a man in a suit caught him in midair and flew away with him.

"Unbelievable!" Magnus exclaimed.

"Yeah, except the guy ended up with four crushed vertebrae from the force of the catch," Henry said, looking up at Magnus.

"Ouch. Was there any information on how we can find this flying man?"

"Well, so far he's done a good job at keeping his secret identity secret," Henry said as I nodded in agreement.

"Well, we need to track him down. For one thing, he's getting in the way of our work, for another, if he keeps this up; a lot of people are going to get seriously hurt."

"Well, I don't know if it helps but my witness reports say he arrives on the scene right away, sometimes before the police," Henry said and looked up at her again, "What, you think he's got some kind of ESP?"

"Oh Henry," Magnus said, smiling. "Good work, you two," she called as she left the room.

I came up with an idea, and later we proposed it to Magnus, who was working in her office. Will seemed to be reporting something to her. "I think he's finding crime by listening to police radio chatter," I told her, "So if you broadcast a signal saying there were robbers at some location, you could set a trap for him, catch him, and bring him back to the Sanctuary."

Magnus smiled at me and said, "You know what? That just might work. Suit up in the armory; you're coming with us if you want. Have Henry show you where it is. Tell him to load you up with some tranqs." I sprinted off down the hallway, excited to be included on an important mission, my thoughts darkened only slightly by a slight distrust of everything. Behind me, my vampire hearing picked up Will's next words.

"She's new and who knows what the Cabal has done to her. You're letting her go on such an important mission?" Will was asking.

"She was the one who came up with the idea in the first place!"

"Yes, I know that, Magnus, but I still don't think this is a good idea. It's the Cabal. Who knows what schemes they planted in her mind! You saw what they did to Ashley—"

"Yes, I know what they did to my daughter!"

"Then why are you letting her go?"

"She's going, end of story, Will."

"All right. Fine. But why in the world are you giving her tranqs? That just makes it easier for her to—"

"Will, if she wanted to kill us all, she could, with or without tranqs." At that point, Henry opened the door to the armory and I had to snap back to attention. Will's words hurt, but I knew they were justified. I _was_ a security risk to them all. Magnus's trust and reasoning gave me a warm feeling though. Henry helped me suit up, and I met Magnus by her car. We drove to a building and Magnus pulled some strings with the police who sent the message out. We hid in the building, and sure enough the guy came, all dressed up in his suit. After a few ridiculous looking moves, he turned around and saw Magnus standing on the top of the stairs.

"Hello," she said.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

"My name is Helen Magnus, and we need to talk," she said.

"You tricked me," he said, "This is a trap!"

"Yes…but if you'll just listen…"

The superhero rose up into the air to face her. "I knew sooner or later my activities would attract the wrong kind of people. But you're going to have to do a lot better than that to bring me down!" he said, preparing to fly away through the roof. He grunted in pain and dropped to the floor. Will was standing in the doorway, holding a stunner. Magnus looked at him as he went up the stairs and I came out of the closet. I was the backup, in case Henry's new prototype stunners didn't work. I held a regular gun, loaded with tranquilizer rounds instead of bullets.

"Nice shot," Magnus said as Will approached the superhero's unmoving form.

"Well he…" Will shrugged, "he was kind of hard to miss."

Later, we got back to the Sanctuary with the man stuffed in the trunk, which felt kind of odd, like we were kidnappers or something. Magnus and Will tied him up in one of the labs while I got lost. Again. When I finally found my way back there, Will and Magnus were watching the superhero struggle against the restraints in one of the labs.

"You'll never get away with this. You think these puny restraints can hold me? Me?" he groaned and flailed with all his strength, and remained strapped to the table.

"How is he doing?" she asked.

"He's still convinced we're super villains, who have kidnapped him to conduct experiments." Will answered. Magnus showed Will the superhero's test results, and how the DNA matched with a guy named Walter. She explained that he was human, and that we were going to have to perform more extensive and complex tests on him to figure out how he could fly.

"Ugh," Will groaned, "Well, that doesn't bode well for our whole 'we're not super villains' case."

"Try to avoid the topic of total world domination," Magnus said, suppressing a smile.

"Thanks," Will said, smiling.

When we got out of the room, Magnus led me to the infirmary. She rolled up my sleeve and readied a syringe. I eyed it distastefully. There had already been too many syringes in my life. She uncapped it and wiped the crook of my left arm with a disinfectant wipe of some kind. I braced myself but forced my left arm to remain limp while the rest of my body was locked in a rigid line. Unlike the Cabal doctors, Magnus did it quickly and I barely felt it. She smiled at me as she removed the syringe from my arm and capped it. After she was done, I followed Magnus out of the lab and into the library. Will would be tied up for a while talking to Walter, and I had no idea where Henry was, so I decided to help Magnus in her research of the mysterious underground egg that she and Will had found. The creature had hatched, and was probably inside one of the construction workers, who had disappeared and apparently started eating cats. We researched in books, her father's logs, and every mythical reference to a creature that fit that description. The Big Guy brought us both tea in the library, and Magnus explained to him what she had already shared with me: how it reminded her of an abnormal encounter her father had, and how it had evolved into another stage of its life cycle. It was not much to go on, but the eyewitness accounts told of its high pitched shriek. After fifteen minutes, we came up with a plan of how to track it by its shrieks. We headed down to the lab, where Henry broke into the Terrorist Suppressing Grid.

"Your monster makes any noise over 90 decihertz and we'll know about it," Henry told the group. The only people missing were Kate, she still hadn't gotten back from whatever she was doing; and Will, because he was still talking with Walter. Henry and I came out of the lab together, and met Will as we stepped outside the elevator.

"Hey, how's it going with super dude?" Henry asked.

"Oh, pretty good," Will said as we walked down the hallway, "I managed to convince him we're not evil. So that's something. Big Guy's checking him out right now."

"Did he say how he was able to fly?" Henry asked as we rounded a corner.

"Yeah. Three weeks ago, he was hanging on a friend's yacht off the coast of Africa when they got attacked by pirates called the 'Singh Brotherhood.' Somehow, in the middle of it all, he got pushed over the side, he swam to shore, and then he found a cave, and in the cave there was this temple. And in the temple there was this ruby called the Cri—"

"Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, yeah."

"How'd you know that?" Will asked, looking at Henry strangely. I was baffled too.

"This guy's good," Henry said, holding back laughter.

"What are you talking about?" Will asked again.

"For real? You never read comic books as a kid?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, I was more of a Sherlock Holmes guy, why?"

"Okay, the Crimson Gem of Siderak? That's the stone cave Marco found in X-Men number twelve, Tournament of Juggernaut," Henry said, "The Singh Brotherhood is from the Phantom, and the yacht, if you don't know the story of the Green Arrow, then there's no hope for you, pal." Henry reached over and patted Will's shoulder. "Dude, you got played," he said.

"Crap," Will said, half laughing, half miffed. Just then the security breach alarms went off and we all looked up. We ran to the lab and found the Big Guy on the floor. Walter was missing, and we ran out to go find him. We were running down the hall, about to split up to search when we saw the hole in the wall.

"What, he…he couldn't use the door?!" Henry complained.

Later, Declan had something on Henry's sonic scan. The mysterious underground egg cat-eating creature was found in an alley, but by the time Will and I got there, the creature was long gone. Declan and his men had tried to stop it, but it was a lot bigger than a man now and the new weapons didn't work that well. I headed back to the Sanctuary while Will and Declan started a search, thinking that the bug-like creature would likely find a nearby place to cocoon. I met Henry and Magnus in the lab, just as he was saying, "Walter's suit is made of bugs?"

"It makes perfect sense," Magnus replied, "Walter isn't an abnormal, he's wearing one. I'll wager it's what's giving him his special abilities. I'll need to take another look at his blood work."

**~~o0o~~**

Later, I fetched Magnus the sample with Henry. "Are you sure this is the right sample?" she asked, looking at it magnified on a big screen.

"Absolutely. Why?" Henry asked.

"His CPK3 and cryatonine levels are through the roof," Magnus said, alarmed.

"So what does that mean?" Henry asked.

"It means that we need to talk to Walter right away."

Henry and I took another look at the blood before following her. I could sort of see what she meant—that is, if I was even looking at the right thing.

After a quick visit to the cafeteria without getting lost, I entered the lab again, and was surprised to find Walter back, with Magnus and Will standing over him. He seemed to wake up when I entered.

"What the…! How did I end up back here?"

"You'd be amazed at how much buzz it creates when a guy in a super suit falls off his balcony," Will told him. He started to get up, but Magnus pushed him back down.

"Before you go knocking another hole in my wall, know this. You are free to leave whenever you like," Magnus said.

"But, you might want to hear what we have to say first." They explained, as gently as they could, that his suit was a parasite and was feeding off him. He didn't believe them. Still trying to convince him, Will asked if he had been feeling dizzy and short of breath. Walter admitted he did feel weaker and had no idea why. He had just started to believe them when they told him to take the suit off.

"I've tried, nothing works. It's stuck!" he said. Magnus, Will and I exchanged a look. We tried everything. We couldn't freeze it off, cut it off with a chainsaw, or even explode it. We tried lasers and everything else we could think of, including my vampire nails and teeth. Walter eventually collapsed, and we had to get him back to the lab. Magnus, with my help, devised a toxin specifically designed to kill the bugs that were Walter's suit. We proposed the idea to Walter. He said flat out, "No."

"You're gonna die, Walter," Will said exasperatedly.

"I don't care," Walter responded.

Just then we got Henry on the radio. "Magnus, it's Henry. I heard from Declan. He tracked the Colianthropus to Kennington Row."

"All right," Magnus said into the radio. Turning to Walter, she said, "Think about it. Please."

I was left inside the room with Walter. Magnus had instructed me on what to do if anything went wrong with Walter while they were gone. They left me a radio too, and I listened as Magnus talked to Henry about the fight with the Colianthropus.

"The stunners aren't working! We need large containment!"

I thought _Uh oh_. Walter was with Henry right now, and he had just heard of the problem. Knowing the guy's liking to save people, I hurried over to the computer and pulled up the security cameras for Henry's lab. Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of a large figure zooming out the window. At least he used the window this time. Magnus would go ballistic with another hole in the wall. I decided to stay in the lab near the medical supplies in case they needed them and watch the security cameras. Suddenly, I saw the one in the elevator was off. That was weird. The cameras were never supposed to be off. Then the hallway leading from that floor's elevator dock blinked out. Then the all of the ones in the main lab. That _had_ to be more than a coincidence. _All_ of them malfunctioning at once? Yeah right. I hurried out of the room, grabbing a nearby stunner off the hook. I arrived above the main lab and watched from the balcony. Kate was down there, along with two men, one of whom was pointing a gun at the teenager next to him. I could hear their voices clearly.

"Your lizard! Is over here," Kate said to the fat man. The other guy, the one who had the gun, followed like a henchman. What was Kate doing? Was she going to betray the Sanctuary? Should I call Magnus? I was about to hit the call button on the radio when Kate stopped in front of the fog-filled cage. The same one that the creature had tried to eat her with one of its tentacles from earlier. I knew that was _not_ a lizard, so I stayed put.

"I can't see anything," the fat guy said, leaning close to the glass.

"Just tap on the glass," Kate said. Following her advice, he pounded on it with his fist. Kate hit a button on her portable computer screen. The cage wall flew open, and a tentacle reached out and snatched the man into the fog. The other man trained his gun on Kate, but she was quicker. She tapped another button and the lasers at the top of the lab came toward him. They aimed directly at his chest. "Drop it," Kate commanded.

He let the gun dangle on his finger, and said, "Please…"

"Unless you want to see your autopsy before you die," she threatened, "I suggest you get the hell out of here. And spread the word, Kate Freelander is not for sale." He looked scared and ran out of the lab. Kate turned to the younger guy, who I assumed was someone she cared about. They murmured something unintelligible to each other, even with my vampire hearing, and left the room together.

**~~o0o~~**

Soon after, Magnus and Will came back, carrying Walter on a stretcher to the lab, where they laid him on the table. Henry got the toxin. Walter tried to resist, saying, "No, wait…please!" The maroon suit started flowing off him as if it were water into a container Magnus hurriedly held out from a nearby shelf.

"For the first time since I got it I really wanted it off," Walter smiled. He reached out, placing his hand on the glass, and said, "I'll miss you, little buddy." He created the Star Trek hand gesture—live long and prosper—before Will wheeled him off to the infirmary. I stepped out into the hallway. I spotted Kate a little way down the hall. I decided it was best to let her know that I had seen the whole thing.

"Hey!" I called out. She turned around. "Look, I saw what happened between you and that guy in the main lab. I was above on the balcony." She was silent, not meeting my eyes. I said, gently as I could, "Who were the guys?"

"My brother. A guy named Constantine I used to run with. One of his henchmen," she said resignedly.

"I won't tell Magnus," I assured her.

"Won't tell me what?" Magnus walked down the hall toward us. I didn't answer, and Kate remained silent. "Henry said when he went to feed the sorkel tonight, it wasn't hungry. I wondered if you knew anything about that." I retreated to the end of the hall.

"Umm…no!" Kate responded.

"And I guess you would also have no idea why all the security cameras in the main lab suddenly malfunctioned at exactly nine fourteen this evening?"

Kate shook her head. "No idea."

"I see," Magnus said, pausing.

"I asked Henry to move your things into more, permanent, quarters."

Kate nodded, like she had been expecting it, eyes downcast until she realized what Magnus had said.

"You what?" she asked.

"I trust that meets with your agenda," Magnus said, smiling slightly.

Kate stuttered, "Uh…Uh…that would be great."

Magnus smiled, and started toward me.

"Umm, Dr. Magnus! Thanks," Kate said, looking surprised and relieved. Magnus smiled and nodded, and then came over to me, still lingering at the edge of the hall.

"I suppose that goes the same for you too?" she asked.

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks," I said. I had decided when I worked with her in the library that I wanted to work with her at the Sanctuary permanently. She was kind, trustworthy, and I actually felt like I fit in here. I had seen the way she treated Walter, working to save him, even after he had disobeyed her and broken the wall. Will didn't quite trust me yet, but I knew he would. I would do everything I could to make that happen. I was no longer going to be a puppet of the Cabal's. I was going to be here of my own free will and be my own person. I mentally choked what was left of Juliana and fully embraced the Tayla inside me. For the first time since my mother's death, I felt a sense of fulfillment and happiness. She smiled and nodded at me, pleased with my decision. As I entered my room, I extended my claws to their full length. I sat on my new bed, stretched out, and told myself, "Welcome to your new home."

**~~o0o~~**

October 25, 2010

A few months later, a box arrived on the doorstep of the Sanctuary. The label on the side read _Comic Publishing, Co. _Magnus and I exchanged a glance before carrying it to the conference room. We met Will on the way.

"What's that?" he asked, gesturing to the box in our hands.

"What do you think?"

The Big Guy was dusting an urn in the conference room and opened the box for us. Inside lay stacks and stacks of comic books written by a certain super hero we knew. We all settled down to read, Kate and I stretched across twin armchairs and Magnus and Will shared the couch. The Big Guy even stopped dusting and sat at the table holding a bright book in his hairy hands and grunting at the pictures. Henry walked in when I was just about halfway through.

"Is there a meeting?" he asked. "What're you guys doing?"

"Walter wrote a comic book," Will said. I held mine up, and Will and Magnus did too.

"What?" Henry said incredulously.

"Check it out," Will said nodding his head toward the Big Guy. The Big Guy grunted and handed him one.

"Time to put the kids to bed?" Henry read. "No! No, oh no, no, no! He totally stole my idea! I was going to publish this when things calmed down around here!"

The Big Guy grunted again.

"It's been three months," I said, "And…you haven't published it yet."

"It's never calm in the Sanctuary!" Henry protested.

"It's too bad," Kate said, looking up, "It's really good."

"Nominated for several awards," Magnus inserted.

"Yeah, and he already sold the movie rights," the Big Guy told him. Magnus laughed and pointed to something out in the comic book to Will.

"That's you," she laughed. Will looked at the picture. He started laughing too. Henry only looked disappointed.

"Oh man!" he said.


	2. Pavor Nocturnus: The Enigma

**Chapter 2: Pavor Nocturnus – The Enigma**

**TV-PG L**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_MAGNUS: The Cabal are a powerful shadow organization bent on controlling all abnormal life on the planet. Pitting humans against abnormals, deciding who lives and who dies, the Cabal has to be stopped, that's why I started this mission more than a century ago._

_DRUITT: We were a part of something, something we called The Five. A small group dedicated to expanding our knowledge of the physical world. Your mother managed to procure a very rare sample of ancient untainted vampire blood. Blood that supposedly possessed miraculous properties._

_MAGNUS: Name?_

_KATE: Kate Freelander. For the record, I'm not Cabal._

We were all sitting in the library when Magnus made her big announcement. "I'm going to South America to look for the tomb of a Mayan king," she announced, "I'll be gone a few days. Try not to blow the place up."

"Why?" Will asked.

"Because then you'd have a bunch of angry abnormals to placate and plus you'd be fired. The scorpius draconae tends to eat people around loud noises," Magnus answered.

"No, why are you looking for the tomb of a Mayan king?" Will asked, rephrasing his question.

"I think the Mayan king's tomb might have secrets that are clues to unlocking abnormal past. You remember Mayan history?" Magnus asked.

"Umm…yeah. The Mayans lived with a powerful kingdom for hundreds of years and just died out suddenly, abandoning their cities and all that they'd built." Will said, looking puzzled.

"Exactly. I believe they might have died out because of an abnormal. Perhaps a secreted toxin or an abnormal attack caused their empire to fall," Magnus said, "I'll be off. I have a plane to catch at noon." She paused at the door. "Oh and Kate," she said, "Why don't you do a systematic check of all the security cameras. Last week two of them malfunctioned and we had to replace them."

"Well, you know, if you changed them out every year like you're supposed to, this wouldn't happen," Kate said as she stood up.

"Ten years instead of one. That's not that big of a difference," Magnus said, smiling slightly.

"In your lifetime maybe," Kate grumbled as she left the room.

"Henry, I need you to process the new intake," Magnus continued, "And Will, you know what you're supposed to be doing."

"Please tell me it's not paperwork," Will said, making a face.

"Sorry, there's a huge pile of it on your desk. I want it done by the time I get back." Magnus left before he could speak again.

Will leaned back on his sofa, sighing.

"I'll help you Henry," I said.

"What, you'd rather catalog a bunch of venomous fanged slugs than do paperwork with me?" Will asked, looking hurt.

"Yes," I laughed as I followed Henry out of the room. We went down to another lab (how many labs are there in this place!) and saw a crate that loud chewing sounds were coming out of.

"Weren't the slugs supposed to be in a chew-proof container?" Henry asked, edging toward the box. The box burst open and out came the most humongous rabbit I had ever seen. It had red eyes, and growled at us.

"That is definitely not a slug!" Henry yelled, jumping backwards. I hit the emergency alarm, and the loud blaring sounds began. The rabbit bared its fangs at me. It leapt toward me, and I morphed into my vampire form out of instinct. I slashed the huge rabbit away, and it fell against the wall, momentarily stunned. Henry grabbed a stunner off the rack and shot it. The rabbit slumped over. We were both breathing hard, and almost laughing until we saw the floor moving. Another crate had burst open during the fight, and tons of slugs came pouring out, straight at us.

"Ahhh!" I yelled, banging into an empty crate behind me. Henry jumped backward and slammed into the wall. Still in vampire form, I bared my fangs at the advancing slugs. With my increased strength, I grabbed Henry and jumped onto a nearby shelf, out of reach of the slugs. I smiled and was about to revert back to my original form when the shelf came crashing down. I grabbed the last stunner off the rack on the wall as we crashed downward. Being a vampire, I landed on my feet and shot at the slugs as soon as my toes touched the ground. Each of my shots brought down about five slugs, but we still needed to get out of there, fast. I pulled Henry out the door, still dazed from his crash into the wall, and punched in my security passcode and hit the emergency lockdown button. The air vents closed, the door slammed shut, and the pipes valves closed. The venomous fanged slugs were trapped inside the lab for now. Will and Kate came running down the hall. Will stopped short of me, staring. I wondered why until I realized I was still in full vamp mode. I released Henry and changed back, still breathing hard.

"What the hell happened?" Will asked.

Kate peered inside the room from the door's window. "Are those the venomous fanged slugs?" she asked.

"Yep," I said.

"Then what's the big furry thing lying on the floor?" Will asked, joining her at the window. We had completely forgot about the vampire rabbit.

"Mistake shipment," Henry gasped, "Supposed to be a container of plant seeds to grow and feed the slugs."

It was too late to worry about that now. Unlike the slugs, the rabbit could chew through the walls, allowing both it and the slugs to escape. A few seconds later, the Big Guy appeared, carrying a canister of knock out gas. I took it from him and handed it to Henry. He plugged it in the pipes that went to the ventilation in that room. I hit my passcode again on the security panel to shut down the lockdown and open the ventilation grate. The slugs made a beeline for it (I never knew slugs could move so fast) but the knockout gas was quicker. Henry pulled the canister away from the pipe and shut it.

"How did you know we needed the gas?" I asked the Big Guy.

"New audio system," he replied, "I heard you."

We put our masks on, opened the door, and stepped inside. I grabbed my tranquilizer gun from the table and shot the rabbit again for good measure. The tranquilizer would hold it longer then the knockout gas and stunner. Henry, Will, and Kate (even though she didn't look happy about it) started picking limp slugs off the floor. I brought them a slug-proof container for them to put them in until their cage was ready. I picked up the vampire rabbit. It was as big as a nightstand, and heavy too. I grunted as I lifted up the big ball of limp fur. I carried it over to a titanium-ion cage. There seemed to be cages to suit everything easily accessible in the Sanctuary. In the small lab alone there were about ten cages made in various sizes and materials. Once the rabbit was safely contained and the slugs picked up, Will and Kate left to create a suitable habitat for the slugs while Henry and I made one for the rabbit. As soon as we got out of the room we took our gas masks off and breathed in deeply. We headed up to another floor, for a cell near the Shu, Henry pushing the cart with the cage with the knocked out rabbit in it. The SHU was where the worst of the worst were kept. The vampire rabbit had a sassy rabbit attitude, claws and fangs, and loved to chew things and suck blood. Definitely needed maximum security for this little guy, harmless and ordinary as he might seem with his eyes closed. We set down the cage in the corridor, and set to work.

I walked up to the library, logged in, and searched the database for the vampire rabbit's preferred habitat. A picture of a vampire rabbit in a foggy woodland area came up, and I clicked it. According to the database, the vampire rabbit was from remote area of Kazakhstan, somewhere in Asia. It lived in marshy, foggy, sylvan areas and ate small animals. It had almost no resemblance to an actual rabbit, but was named such for its big ears. I headed back to Henry to tell him what I'd found out.

He was still working on the ventilation system in that cell, trying to make it chew-proof. I told him about the fog, and together we created a fog machine. We installed it in a corner, and it immediately started fogging up the room. We had to shut it off so we could see. We added foggy marsh wallpaper, and added a layer of wet dirt to the ground. We planted ferns, marsh plants, and trees in it. When we were about done, we flooded the cell and drained it out the bottom. Puddles and very wet dirt remained, the vampire rabbit's preferred habitat.

We set the auto-release on the cage, set it inside, and shut the door. A few minutes later, the cage door sprung open, and the rabbit hopped out. It bared it fangs and leapt straight at us. It bounced off the titanium-ion enforced glass, and Henry said, "Yeah, I think it'll do just fine here. Let's go get some dinner!"

We had completely forgotten about lunch, so we were starving when we reached the kitchen. I raided Tesla's blood refrigerator. He liked to think of it as blood, but it was actually just nutrients and animal plasma. Tesla and I now shared it, since he wasn't the only vampire in the building anymore. I had to watch out for the wine-laced containers though. Tesla apparently loved wine, and, since vampires couldn't get drunk, had it with everything. I selected a container than looked safe and poured some of the red liquid into a glass. I sat down across the table from Henry with my drink. "Do you think one frozen pizza would feed all of us?" I asked Henry.

"No, I think you'd better make two," Henry said, leaning back with his soda against the seat, "HAPs eat a lot."

I laughed, guessing that was Henry's way of saying "I'm starving." I had just put the pizzas in the oven when Will and Kate walked in.

"What, you started without us?" Will said indignantly.

"Relax, Will. I just put the pizzas in the oven for all of us. Get yourself a drink and come sit down with us," I told him. Kate sat down next to me and Will beside Henry.

"When did Magnus say she was going to be back?" Kate asked.

"Saturday, but if she finds something and has to stay longer it'll be the Wednesday after," Will answered.

"So what do you guys do when the boss is away?" I asked.

"Tonight, we'll show you," Henry said mischievously, "It has something to do with the library, the huge projector screen, and a DVD." I rolled my eyes. That totally just gave it away. The oven buzzed, and I pulled out the pizzas and we ate them hungrily together.

After dinner Will, Henry, and I trooped down to the library while Kate got the popcorn. When she returned with enough for everyone, we started the show. It was called _Stargate SG-1_ and was pretty good. Even though I started in the middle of season three, I got what was happening. It was about a team of four people, O'Neill, Carter, Teal'c and Daniel traveling through a device called the Stargate to other planets. They were fighting the Goa'uld, a parasitic snake creature that had Jaffa believing they were gods.

"You know," I said when the episode was over, "Carter kind of looks like Magnus." They all laughed like they knew something I didn't. After watching another couple episodes, we all retired to bed.

**~~o0o~~**

The next day at breakfast, Will announced, "Today we have to deal with the guy who gave us the wrong item. Instead of getting plant seeds, we got a vampire rabbit. Kind of a big mistake. So Henry and I will go, and you and Kate can tidy up around here or dust or something."

Kate looked put out, and had started a snappy retort when I said, "Don't you have paperwork to do?"

Will grimaced, and Kate said, "Okay good. Tayla and I will go instead then."

"Wait a minute!" Henry interrupted, "Why don't I get to go?"

"Don't you need to file the data on the vampire rabbit?" Kate countered. I smiled, and got up from the table.

"See you two later," I said.

Kate and I ran out the door laughing. We got into a car and she drove us to the supply person we got the vampire rabbit from. He worked out of an old McDonald's drive through restaurant, dilapidated with peeling paint. We pulled over in the parking lot, and headed for the door. On the peeling paint and scuffed window, a sign was posted: _Dalton is out right now. Please come back later or call 555-2AB-NORM to talk to him._

"Great," Kate said, "Just great."

We tried calling the number, and got his answering machine. We left a message saying to call us back, but we didn't get an answer that day. Or the next. Or the next. Finally Saturday morning, while we were sitting on the couch, we got the call.

"Eh? Whatchoo callin' for? Ya get what you paid for!" the man said before either of us could say a word. He then ended the call. We looked at each other.

"Guess we better scratch him off the buy from list," Kate said.

We tried to get the place cleaned up before Magnus got back by scraping slug slime off the lab floor, vacuuming stray popcorn bits off the carpet, and erasing all evidence of our TV show watching. Will left saying he "forgot" to do some paperwork, but he probably just wanted to skip slug slime cleaning duty. The rest of us, including the Big Guy, got down on our hands and knees for an hour scrubbing the floor of the lab. Sure enough, as soon as we finished, he emerged from his office and asked with an innocent smile, "Ready to clean the slug slime?" We all rolled our eyes and Kate even threw her slimy sponge at him. It stuck to his shirt, and then slowly oozed down as we all laughed. All except Will of course.

We finished cleaning and everybody except Will and I went to take a shower. Me because I wasn't that dirty, and Will because he had showered after Kate had chucked her slimy sponge at him (his shower effectively exempting him from cleaning the popcorn off the floor too). Will and I were the only ones in the room when Magnus walked in, back from South America. She didn't notice us at first; she looked around at everything strangely as if she didn't believe it was real.

"Hey! Welcome back," Will said, "Wow, nice coat. Did you pick that up at Honduras?"

"No it's…it's one of my own," Magnus faltered. She was acting really weird.

"Huh. Well, it's a very good look for you," Will said, but by the tone of his voice I could tell he knew something was up.

"So how was the safari?" Will asked.

"Safaris are in Africa," Magnus said, regaining some of her composure.

"Okay, then the uh, jungle hunt," Will said, making his voice deep, "for the tomb of the Mayan king. Which when you think about it sounds like a bad cable special, huh?"

"Well, that was why I went alone, to, avoid the mockery." Magnus said.

"Ah. Well it was a good plan," Will said, smiling slightly. "So did you find it or what?" Will asked.

"The tomb? No, no I didn't," Magnus said quickly.

"Really? Well you did a lot of research, it's not like you to strike out like that," Will said, watching her closely.

"Searched the area for days, came up empty, not even a whiff," Magnus said. Will looked at her strangely. "Let's just call the trip a massive tax write-off," Magnus said, rolling her eyes and smiling a fake smile.

"You're totally pissed, aren't you?" Will asked, "that you came up empty?"

Magnus smiled, a real one this time, relieved. "Absolutely furious," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on," Will said, obviously thinking he had found her out, "these things happen for a reason, right?" He turned toward the window. Magnus's smile faltered, just for a second, as she thought of something. Very mysterious. But then again, this was Magnus. She was always, and probably always would be, a mindboggling conundrum. Maybe if I had a hundred years with her, I might be able to unravel her enigma. Oh, wait, I probably do.


	3. Fragments: Rachel's Diffident Lover

**Chapter 3: Fragments – Rachel's Diffident Lover**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_TAYLA: I was fifteen when they took me._

_DOCTOR LINA: Bring me a syringe of the Source Blood. You will be very useful to the Cabal._

_MAGNUS: I'm Dr. Helen Magnus, and I run this place, the Sanctuary, where all sorts of abnormals can be safe. You can stay here. Use your gifts to help us in our work._

_MAGNUS: This isn't a disease, Henry._

_HENRY: I have spent my adult life working with abnormals. Now I am one!_

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" I yelled. Kate, laughing, swerved the feeding cart around just in time to miss hitting mine. Then she turned hers so it rammed mine face on, which kind of ruined the point. The containers rattled a little and I hoped they wouldn't fall off. I made like I was running away and turned at the last moment. Our carts banged together with a loud crash and one of the containers burst open. Fire shrimp exploded out, getting all over the floor.

Kate took one look at the mess and said, "I gotta go. You clean this up." She strode off down the hallway. She was just about to go around the corner when a hand reached out from Magnus's office and caught her by the jacket.

"You clean too," the Big Guy grunted lifting Kate up into the air. She nodded quickly and he dropped her after a smack on the head. I stood there, grinning, until I saw the look on her face. She stepped toward me, trying not to step on the fire shrimp strewn all over the floor.

"Alright, let's get this mess cleaned up," she muttered. I got a new container and she got a clean dust pan and broom. We cleaned up the mess in about ten minutes, and we both went to put the carts away and take a shower. I had just finished blow-drying my hair when we heard Henry's frantic voice on the radio.

"Will! Kate! Tayla! Magnus! Help! Something's wrong with Rachel and Jack!" Henry yelled frantically into the radio. Magnus came out of her office, responding quickly, as she always did in a crisis.

"Kate, you go with Will to Rachel's house. He's waiting for you by Sanctuary Van #3," she said, and then turned to me. "You come with me to the O.R. just in case. I won't prep it unless we need it but we should get down there."

Kate ran off to meet Will and Magnus and I headed to the O.R.

"Why might we need the O.R.?" I asked.

"Jack is a Pleskidara. They are deadly creatures that can implant spores inside you if you have an open wound. Rachel believed that a certain fungi, cordiceps, was the sole reason for their aggressive behavior, and, not being exposed to it, a Pleski would be a very docile and intelligent creature. It was a controversial theory, even in the abnormal community," Magnus explained, "So if the Pleski has implanted spores in Rachel, we need to get them out as soon as possible. You remember what I've been teaching you?"

"Yes," I said. Magnus had been teaching me the basics of surgery since I came here.

"Okay. Let me call Henry," she said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. "Henry?" she asked. She hit a button to put it on speaker phone so I could listen too.

"Hey, Doc?" Henry's voice came through the phone.

"Calm down," Magnus said, "Is she…"

"She's alive but she's unconscious and she's been cut," Henry said.

"Are you gloved up?" Magnus asked, looking worried.

"Yeah, where's the Big Guy?"

"He's on his way with a haz-mat transport. I'll prep the O.R." Magnus said, crossing the room to one of the tables.

"Do you think she's infected?" Henry asked, trying hard to keep his voice steady.

"I won't know until I get her into surgery Henry, but if the creature did lay spores…"

"Yeah I know Doc. She's dead."

A few minutes later, Magnus and I were both pulling open drawers and getting things out to prep the O.R. I pulled gloves and forceps out of one drawer and placed them on the table. Magnus was still instructing Henry over the phone.

"How's her pulse?" Magnus asked, flipping through her files on the Pleskidara.

"It's rapid, but kind of weak," Henry replied.

"Do you think you could pack her wounds?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah sure, what do I do?" Henry asked.

"Right, I'll walk you through it. You need to find gauze and forceps," Magnus instructed.

"Okay."

"And Henry, whatever you do, do not let her blood come in contact with your skin," Magnus ordered.

"Right," Henry said, "I think the Big Guy's here."

Magnus got up from her seat by the phone and together we quickly finished prepping. She smiled at me gratefully, and said, "Thanks Tayla for your help. You can learn by watching from behind the glass over there. I would prefer the Big Guy's help this time."

"Okay," I agreed. I exited the room and went to wait from behind the glass wall.

Magnus went back over to the phone in time to hear Henry say, "Big Guy's got her now. They're on their way to you. Doc, she was so pale…"

"I'll do everything I can," Magnus promised.

About fifteen minutes later, the Big Guy wheeled Rachel in, enclosed in a plastic bag with zipped segments. He and Magnus started right away. She unzipped one of the segments and picked up a light.

"Do a c-spine, chest and abdomen," Magnus said.

"Ready," the Big Guy replied.

"Give her one gram ceph. Increasing oxygen to 40%, heart rate 98 and regular, pupils are equal and reactive to light," Magnus said, shining the light in Rachel's eyes.

"Abdomen soft, localizes to pain," the Big Guy said.

"Kidneys?" Magnus asked.

The Big Guy turned around to look at the monitor. "Clear," he said.

Magnus took her forceps and carefully peeled back one of Henry's bandages. "This one looks clean," she announced, "Let's hope they all are."

The Big Guy pulled back the other bandage.

"She's infected!" he grunted.

"The spores are active!" Magnus yelled. They frantically zipped the plastic back up.

"We need to get her into quarantine before I can operate. Hopefully I can get to them before the multiply," Magnus said, taking Rachel's cart and starting to wheel it out of the room.

The Big Guy looked at her and growled, placing himself in her way.

"I have to try," she said, looking him directly in the eyes. He grunted and moved aside to let her though.

After Magnus had moved Rachel into quarantine, I had to watch on the security cameras with the audio system. I inputted my passcode and a little blue light blinked on the panel in the room. The little blue light was unique to me. Kate's was red, Will's purple, the Big Guy yellow, Henry white, and Magnus green. After inputting my passcode Magnus had thirty seconds to disable it if she didn't want me listening. After that, the audio switched on just in time to hear her next sentence.

"Was Will able to get a hold of Gerald?" Magnus asked as she moved in with the forceps.  
>"On his way; upset," the Big Guy said, watching the monitor.<br>"Of course he is," Magnus said, looking down into the wound.

The Big Guy hit a button on the computer while Magnus dropped a wriggling spore into a container. The Big Guy initiated another scan on Rachel's body.

"There are too many; dividing too quickly!" the Big Guy said. Magnus looked over at the monitor, which showed three times the amount of red dots as before.

"Just stay sharp. You have your medicine bag?" Magnus asked, preoccupied with another spore.

"Yes," the Big Guy said, looking at a small pouch made of some kind of leather or, more likely, animal skin.  
>"Let's hope we don't need it," Magnus said. She looked directly at the camera and asked, "Could you go check on Will and Kate please? They're in the main lab."<p>

I nodded, and then, realizing they couldn't see me, said, "Sure, I'll be right back."

I walked down the hall and got into the elevator. I punched the buttons to take me to take me to the Shoe level. Kate and Will were walking down the hall toward me, in the middle of their conversation.

"From what I've seen of Jack's behavior, he could still use some obedience training," Kate was saying.

"Last time I saw him with Rachel, he seemed pretty docile. She was even teaching him sign language," Will said doubtfully.

"Hey, I'm no scientist, but you teach a deadly abnormal how to talk and all you get is a deadly talking abnormal," Kate said. She looked up and saw me. "Hey Tayla," she called, "Do you want to come with me to check out the crime scene?"

Magnus hadn't actually said when I had to be back, and maybe I could see some pattern that nobody else could. After all, I was a vampire. I decided to go with Kate. We walked up to one of the labs where Henry was, typing at his computer. A device on the floor lit up with blue light spreading a holographic image all across the room. Henry took some tape and started putting tape outlines on the floor of objects in the room, not realizing we were there. Kate stepped forward and waved her hand in front of the device.

"Oh, is this the thing that scanned the room?" she asked.

"Don't do that," Henry said without looking up as the projection disappeared and reappeared.

"Need a hand?" Kate asked him more gently.

"No, I'm good. I got a system," Henry replied.

"I get it," Kate said, looking around, trying to lighten the mood, "You can't go to the crime scene so you bring the crime scene to you."

"Yeah, best we can," Henry said.

"Do the cops have one of these gizmos?" Kate asked.

"They wish they did."

"So then how'd you come up with it?"

"Will and me. His specs, my program, my design. It's still a work in progress, but it's the best we've got right now," Henry replied.

Kate paused, and then said carefully, "She a friend of yours? I mean, Magnus is on the job so…"

Henry said stiffly, "Rachel and I worked together for about four years. She's been helping me to understand who I am, what I am. She wasn't afraid of it."

"And the other guy is what, her husband?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, he's like a brother to me." Henry said. He looked sad and lost in memories. I left then, heading for the quarantine area. Actually, I stopped for some animal plasma (equivalent to blood except "more acceptable in today's society") in the refrigerator first. Henry passed me as I was heading into the cafeteria but he didn't notice me. After drinking a glass of it, I set off for the quarantine area once again. I arrived just in time to see Magnus standing by a glass box type thing that was all fogged up. I could see Rachel inside. Magnus was talking to a sad man in his thirties, and Henry stood beside her.

"I'm putting Rachel into stasis," Magnus was saying.

"To die?" the man asked.

"To slow down the progression of the spores, give me time to work on a treatment," Magnus said firmly.

"There is no treatment, you know that. Once the host becomes infected the spores regenerate until the host is…" the man said.

"I'm not ready to go there, not yet. I'm going to fight for Rachel but I need your help," Magnus said.

"What can I do?" the man asked hopelessly.

"I need your research on Pleskidarsus spore regeneration. I may be able to create a reagent."

"But the chemical that halts spore reproduction, it's far too—" the man started.

"It's too caustic for human tissue I know. I think I may be able to find a way to lessen the toxic side effects," Magnus said. The man shook his head. "Gerald…I need your research," she said.

"You can use my set-up," Henry offered. The man named Gerald looked at Rachel, his wife, on the table in stasis.

"Okay, show me," he said to Henry.

"Okay, come on," Henry said, looking relieved. He hurried Gerald out of the room. Magnus sighed and leaned against the table. She looked beat. I stepped out of the doorway into the room and gave her hand a quick squeeze. I got a sad smile in return. I left the room and headed back up to the security camera computers to see where I was needed. Will and Kate were in the lab, doing a reenactment of the crime. Kate acted like Rachel and Will was both the Pleski and tied to decide where she should stand. I flipped to the next camera and found Magnus still in the quarantine area. She was talking to the Big Guy. I flipped the audio on to listen. I little blinking blue light appeared on the passcode panel, telling the occupants of the room I was watching and listening. Magnus glanced at the panel and nodded at the camera, giving me permission to listen. I sat down in the chair.

"Once I get Gerald's data I'll start working on the reagent. In any case we'll need to extract spores from Jack," she said to the Big Guy.

"How much time?" the Big Guy said.

"Even in stasis the tissue already damaged by the spores will necrose. Her system won't be able to handle it for too much longer," Magnus said.

"Too young," the Big Guy said.

"By far," Magnus replied.

"I'll collect the spores from Jack." I went to meet the Big Guy at the elevator. If he was going to see the Pleski, a vampire to protect him would be a good idea. We went down to the Shoe and restrained the Pleski. The Big Guy extracted the spores and we left quickly. We headed back up to Magnus. She was working on the reagent with Gerald's research. Suddenly Will burst in.

"Gerald's attacked Jack!" Will said.

"How did this happen?" Magnus asked, still looking into the microscope.

"I'm guessing he took the weapon while working in Henry's lab," Will answered.

"And the Pleski?" Magnus asked.

"It took a couple of bullets but its skin is so tough, I don't think there should be any permanent damage. The Big Guy's with him now."

"What about Gerald?"

"He's a mess. Henry's with him," Will said, looking at Magnus.

"I never should have left him alone," Magnus said.

"The guy works for you, I mean, there was no reason to think he was going to go that far," Will tried to placate her.

"Still, it never should have happened," Magnus said.

"Assassination attempts, aside, how goes it?" Will asked.

"Well ironically, Gerald's research is proving to be quite helpful. Take a look at this," Magnus said, gesturing to the microscope.

"Is this going to put me off my lunch?" Will asked, moving toward it. Magnus smiled, and I laughed. Will had absolutely no stomach for surgery or anything like that. Magnus was always saying that she was glad I wasn't Will when she was showing me abnormal surgeries. I looked back at the screen and saw Magnus add a solution to the Petri dish.

"Now watch," Magnus said. Will put his eyes up to the microscope.

"Huh, well, that works," Will said, leaning back up.

"We just have to administer the right amount, enough to kill the spores without harming Rachel."

"Right, like chemo," Will said.

"But far more tricky to regulate. Have you figured out what happened in the attack?"

"No. Kate's got something she wants me to see. I'm heading to the mock-up lab now," Will answered. He lingered in the lab a moment, looking at Magnus.

"I know that look," Magnus said, looking back at him.

"Rachel taught Jack a form of sign language and I'm thinking of trying to communicate with him. Now, I know it's not a conventional way of gathering evidence and I know what you're going to say: that if you could teach a lion to speak you still wouldn't understand him - your dad's favorite expression," Will said.

"Because…? We often make the egocentric mistake of believing that abnormals think the same way we do; that their worldview and logic patterns are similar. In most cases even with the most intelligent species they simply aren't," Magnus said.

"I know. Their whole cognitive process is different," Will said, looking like they'd gone over this before.

"Yes," Magnus said, stressing the word. "I'm—" she sighed, "I'm…I'm just saying bear that in mind when you have your…chat."

"Okay," Will said, starting toward the door. I decided to meet him and Kate at the mock lab. I walked down the stairs and met Will in the hall. Together we went to see what Kate had discovered. We walked in and I stood in the corner. Will started where they had left off.

"Okay, tell me what you see from here," Kate said.

"Okay, Rachel enters; she sees the Pleski is loose. Now, there's a tranq gun right in front of her," Will stated, gesturing to a box that probably represented a table.

"Right, she had a defense," Kate agreed.

"But she doesn't use it. Why?" Will asks.

Kate moved over to another corner of the lab. "I'm thinking…because of this."

A barcode was on the floor and Will scanned it. "Item 163, what is that?"

I stepped up beside Kate to look at her computer. "A syringe," she announced.

"Containing what?" Will asked.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing she was going for it when Jack attacked," Kate said.

"Okay good, so she was trying to inject him with something."

"Uh huh, not a sedative 'cause that's in the tranq gun which she passes on," Kate continued.

"Okay, bing, bang, boom. Rachel enters, sees Jack is loose, ignores the tranq gun and heads straight for the drug cabinet," Will said, moving around the mock lab.

"She drops the syringe before she can use it and now the big question is..."

"What was in the syringe," Will finished. He walked over to the drug-cabinet-representation box and moved around it, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Well... it's just that I'm not totally buying the whole ready-to-go syringe theory. Item 73, what's that?"

"Medicine of some kind… I don't know, I can't read the label," Kate said, staring at her computer again.

"Huh…" Will muttered.

"So whatever was in that vial…" Kate began.

"Was what she was trying to inject Jack with," Will finished.

"Right…okay, I will talk to Henry. See if he can generate a more detailed view of the 3-D scan," Kate said.

"Alright, I'm going to go check on Gerald," Will said as he turned to walk out of the lab.

"Hey Will," Kate said. He turned.

"Yeah?"

"This is what you did before you came here, right? Like fancy detective work, CSI stuff?" she asked. I waited, trying to see where she was going with this.

"Yeah...look, in the real world forensics is under-staffed, under-funded, and backlogged to the nines," Will said.

"Oh," Kate said, smiling slightly, "Well, score one for the criminals, then."

"Put it this way, if I had this tech to work with you'd have been behind bars years ago," Will said as he left. Kate stood there for a moment.

"No I wouldn't," she said, turning back towards me.

"I'm off to see if Magnus needs anything," I said, suppressing a smile. I walked out the door and got into the elevator. It took ten minutes to go up three floors. The elevator must have been broken. I finally reached Magnus's lab. She was still there.

"Do you need anything?" I asked. She looked up.

"No, thank you, I'm almost done. I just need to figure out the right amount to give Rachel," she paused, looking at her calculations again.

"Okay. Well, if you need anything, just radio me," I said as I left. "And by the way, the elevator's broken." I left the room right after that, but I think she sighed. Time to see how far Kate and Henry had gotten while I was stuck in the elevator. I took the stairs to Henry's lab. I had just entered when Will walked in behind me.

"Anything?" Will asked.

"Still working on it; how was your chat with Jack?" she asked.

"Huh... Turns out he doesn't have much to say, except I think he feels bad about what happened which isn't very monster-like," Will answered.

"I tried looking through the vial to the label on the other side. It didn't work. Look, if you look at that piece of glass right there, it kind of acts like a mirror, right?" Henry said.

"Yeah," Will said.

"Well, if you focus on that sector, kick up the res, flip it around...Betamethasone," Henry said.

"Betamethasone?" Will asked.

"What is that, some kind of sedative?" Kate asked, looking from Henry to Will.

"No, it's just a common immunosuppressant," Will said.

"Are you kidding? She went for that over a tranq gun?" Kate asked disbelievingly.

"There's got to be a good reason," Henry said.

"Yeah, I'm betting there is," Will said. He turned and left. I followed him. He went straight to Magnus's lab. I advised him against going up the elevator, so instead we took the stairs. Magnus was no longer in her lab. So we went back down the stairs to the quarantine area. Magnus looked up as we entered.

"Hey," Will said.

"I've given her 30 milligrams of the reagent. We'll see how she responds to the treatment," Magnus said.

"We found something in Rachel's lab. I think she was trying to inject Jack with

betamethasone," Will told her.

"What? Are you certain?" she asked.  
>"She was going for it instead of the tranquilizers. Does that make any sense?" Will asked.<p>

"Actually, it might. But it would suggest that Rachel knew that Jack's ACTH levels were too high," Magnus answered.

"How so?"

"In Siberia, the Pleski's native habitat, there's a rare fungus Cordiceps Siberienses. Now when the Pleski's exposed to even small amounts it increases their ACTH levels," Magnus explained.

"Which over-stimulates the adrenals," Will said, beginning to understand.

"Exactly. Now, Rachel's research was based on the premise that the cordiceps fungus was the sole reason that the Pleskidara are deadly; and that without its influence they're a gentle, intelligent species."  
>"Okay so, wait. So if Jack was somehow exposed to the fungus, then..."<p>

"It would explain how he escaped from his enclosure," Magnus said.

"And why it took so many tranquilizers to bring him down. But why would he be exposed in the first place?"  
>"Could it have been a shipping container that was somehow contaminated? Knowing Gerald and Rachel, that doesn't make any sense. They'd be so careful to screen for that," Magnus pondered.<p>

"Well, I'll do a blood test, check the ACTH levels," Will said.  
>"I'll talk with Gerald. Tayla, work with Will."<p>

"Okay," I answered. Magnus left, and Will and I walked to the Shoe. I became a vampire again, protecting Will as he drew blood from the Pleski. We ran the blood test and confirmed it. His ACTH levels were higher than normal. They weren't anywhere near the danger range, but they were dropping from a previous spike.

"We have to tell Magnus," Will said. We downloaded the results to my tablet computer and headed for where she was talking with Gerald. We had just stepped out of the room when Magnus contacted me via radio.

"The treatment's killing Rachel. She's flat lined."

We hurried her way, picking up Kate as went rushed along. We met Magnus in the hallway.

"How's Rachel?" Will asked.

"Alive for now," Magnus answered.

"You should see this," Kate said. Will handed her the tablet.

"Jack's blood results; the ACTH levels are higher than normal, dropping from a previous spike. I'm checking his food remains for traces of this Siberian fungus," Will explained.

"Well, why his food? Rachel would be the most careful about that I should think," Magnus asked, looking at Will piercingly.

"Umm…" Will said.

"The Pleski told him," Kate said helpfully.

"He kept making the sign for "eat". Look, I tried to think outside of my egocentric way of communicating but I'm wondering if Jack maybe somehow knew that his food was being poisoned," Will tried to explain his actions.

"Or he's just hungry," Kate said.

"He hasn't eaten anything since he got here," Will said, turning to Kate.

"Let me know what you find," Magnus said, walking past us.

"Magnus…" Will asked.

"It doesn't look good," she answered.

I went back to the security cameras at Magnus's direction. I flipped the camera to the one in Rachel's lab. Gerald sat in a chair by his wife in the bed, breathing but unmoving. He was talking to her. Just then Henry came in, and Gerald's face contorted. They said something to each other. I noticed Gerald getting angry. I quickly switched the audio on and the blue light blinked. The two men were so focused on each other that they didn't notice.

"I can't spend two minutes with her, without you showing up. I can't take her to a movie because you two have already seen it. First it's coffee with Henry and then it's a dinner here and there. Pretty soon it's all about whether or not you're available. You know that she actually blushes when you walk into a room? And you know it and you insult me every time, pretending that it wasn't happening," Gerald said, eyes blazing.

"She's with you, Ger, not me. I never did anything." Henry said, backing away.

"You don't have to, Henry, you are... you're everything that she wants me to be," Gerald said. Suddenly I got Will on the radio lying on the table across the hall.

"Tayla? Magnus? The food results came back. Jack's last three feedings were rife with the Siberian fungus," Will said.

"But I took care of things. Something had to be done," Gerald was saying on the monitor. Then it all came together. I knew what had happened and what was going to happen. I scrambled up from my chair and accidently knocked the audio switch to off. I grabbed the radio.

"Will! Magnus! Henry needs help! He's in the room with Rachel and Gerald!" I spoke into the radio. I heard footsteps running on the floor beneath mine. I took off at a run after one last look at the monitor. Gerald had a surgical knife and was moving in on Henry. I sprinted down the hallway and down a flight of stairs. I burst into the room after Magnus and the Big Guy, holding a gun.

"Gerald!" Magnus exclaimed, pointing the gun at Gerald, "That is enough! Drop it!"

"Look at her. I don't want to live when she's gone. Oh, but you'd take care of that though wouldn't you, buddy boy? Huh? If I just mess you up just a little bit you'd take care of business. You'd take care of me, wouldn't you?" he yelled.

"Stop…" Henry moaned, trying hard to stop his transformation. Gerald had already cut him twice.

"Then you'd have to live with it!" Gerald said, his voice shaking with anger.

"Gerald! Think logically. You do NOT want to take this action!" Magnus told him.

"Come on, freak!" Gerald slashed at Henry again, and I moved in to intercept it. Just then the alarm sounded, stopping us all in our tracks.

"She's crashing again!" Magnus shouted. The Big Guy, who I hadn't seen come in, rushed forward past me to restrain Gerald. Magnus moved to tend Rachel. She took the syringe filled with a yellow liquid that I handed her. She shot it into Rachel's IV.

"Doc, is she?" Henry asked, finally managing to revert to his usual form. The alarms stopped blaring and Rachel stopped convulsing.

"She's stabilizing," Magnus said as Henry and Kate burst in.

A few weeks later, Magnus came into my office. Yes, I have an office. It should have been cool to have my own office in the Sanctuary, but I didn't anticipate the amount of paperwork that came with it.

Anyway, Magnus walked into my office. I asked, "How's Henry?"

"He's…going to be fine," Magnus said.

"I assume he's out in the gardens with Rachel now?"

"No, he just came in," Magnus answered. "I wanted to ask you, you know how Will's complaining about the amount of paperwork he has to do?"

"Who here doesn't hear him?" I said. Magnus smiled slightly.

"Would you do the security logs and the mission reports?" she asked.

"Thank you!" Will came in, "Thank you so much for accepting her offer Tayla. Here you go." He dropped a huge stack of papers on my desk.

"But…but I didn't say anything!" I said, laughing. Will left quickly, laughing at me. Magnus smiled, amused, and she left too. At the door, she turned.

"Could you have these in by Thursday? The United Nations are sending an ambassador to tour the Sanctuary, and I would like to appear organized."

"Yes," I sighed. She left after tossing another folder full of paperwork at me. I opened the folder. On top was a note from Magnus. It read:

_Tayla, I thank you for taking this on. I know it will be a lot to do with your surgical lessons, which, by the way, start today at four o'clock, and then every Wednesday after that. Please have this all in by Thursday (tomorrow). ~Magnus _

Now I see what Will meant about the paperwork. Well, at least he's not grumbling anymore about doing day by day reports in the security files. Henry does the new intakes, I do the security and mission logs, and Will does, well, everything else. Kate…actually, I'm not sure what Kate does. I guess she takes Ashley's job of talking to the Sanctuary contacts. They are mostly red-list dealers and the like, so she fits right in. Don't tell her I said that. I don't need Peruvian fire ants in my bed again.

Don't ask.


	4. V: Beetles, Spiders, and Bigfoot: Oh My!

**Chapter 4: Veritas – Beetles, Spiders, and Bigfoot, Oh My!**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_TAYLA: I was fifteen when they took me. They came up in big black vans, taking me from the arms of my screaming mother. And then they shot her._

_DOCTOR LINA: Bring me a syringe of the Source Blood. You will be very useful to the Cabal._

_MAGNUS: I'm Dr. Helen Magnus, and I run this place, the Sanctuary, where all sorts of abnormals can be safe. You can stay here. Use your gifts to help us in our work._

"Declan? Declan!" I jammed the phone back down into my pocket. Something had happened. Something very bad had happened. I was at my mom's house, visiting her grave. She had died shortly after I had been taken by the Cabal and turned into a vampire. Will was off on some mission. Presumably Declan had called him too. I ran to the Sanctuary, twenty miles away from my old house. Yes, I ran. I'm a vampire, remember? I sprinted up the front steps and rang the doorbell, panting. It immediately was opened for me by Declan.

"What do you mean the Big Guy's dead?" I exploded as soon as I had stepped inside.

"We're still piecing it together, Tayla," he answered.

"Who did it?" I asked.

"We're…not sure," he answered.

"But you have some idea?" I prompted.

"Well…As of now, all the evidence points to Helen Magnus."

I stared at him in disbelief. Magnus wouldn't do this! The Big Guy was one of her oldest friends!

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"Level 3 Isolation," he answered. I turned on my heel and sped off down the stairs. How could he think that Magnus did this? How could he? At the bottom of the stairs I sprinted to the Level 3 Isolation room. I punched in my security passcode. The door opened automatically to let me in. Magnus was sitting on a couch, crying. She looked up as I entered.

"Tayla!" she ran over to hug me.

"What happened?" I asked as I lowered myself onto the couch beside her.

"I don't know! I don't know!" she said, starting to cry again.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked gently.

"I don't know what happened!" she said.

"Okay, okay, it's going to be okay," I soothed her.

"How could it be? They're telling me I killed my best friend!" she cried.

"We're going to get you out of here," I said. That didn't really answer her question, but I didn't know what to think. She did seem unstable. "They're mistaken," I assured her, "You didn't kill anyone. It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay." She laid her head across my chest like a small child and I stroked her hair soothingly. She leaned against me, stretched across the small couch, and I could feel both of our heartbeats, mine going faster because of my exertion. We stayed like that for about ten minutes, me stroking her hair and soothing her until Will burst in, back from his mission. She ran over to hug him too, and he looked as surprised as I did. He held her by the shoulders and made her look directly in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She pulled away.

"How could I be? They're telling me I killed one of my dearest friends!" she said, breaking into tears again.

"What do you mean, telling you?" he asked.

"I don't remember what happened," she said, beginning to pace the room in a state of agitation, "Honestly, I…I have absolutely no memory of the last week!"

"Were you injured? Or exposed to something?" he asked. She sat back down next to me.

"No! The tox screen came back negative!" Will looked around, out of ideas.

Magnus pulled him closer. I leaned in to listen. "Someone did this to me. Someone deliberately tried to erase my memories," she told us seriously, willing us to believe her, to realize she was right. Will seemed doubtful and confused.

"How?" he asked.

"I don't know, aren't you listening to me?" she said, almost frantically. He looked at her, taken aback.

"I'm sorry," Magnus said, wiping her eyes on a Kleenex. "It's just…" she closed her eyes, "I'm just as confused as you are." Will crouched on the floor next to her.

"Someone's trying to set me up. Someone's trying to make it look like I killed—"

"Okay, just listen to me, listen to me," he said looking directly into her eyes, "We're going to get to the bottom of this, I promise." She nodded, still crying.

"He was one of my oldest friends, Will," she said, "You have to help me. Please."

He nodded. "Well, of course." She looked down again, grateful.

"I'll stay here," I offered. He nodded, got up, and tossed me a radio.

He left the room saying, "I'll be right back with your tablet computer."

He came back a few minutes later with it, and as he was leaving, announced, "By the way, I thought you should know. Declan has invoked Article 9." He left, shutting the door carefully behind him. Magnus snuggled up against me again, her crying renewed by Will's visit. I placed my tablet computer on the arm rest while my left hand resumed the stroking of her hair. I message from Will popped up, and I opened the chat box.

_Use this to communicate things she shouldn't hear_, he typed.

_Okay_, I typed back, _What's Article 9? _

_It's a rule Magnus herself made that states that when a Sanctuary Head of House is suspected of a crime, the matter be reviewed by the other Heads of House_, he responded.

Another message from Will popped up. _I'm talking to Henry and Kate right now. Henry's going to go through her files and try to see if there's anyone who might be after her. Kate's going with me to check out the crime scene. How is she?_

_She's…stable-ish,_ I typed back.

_Okay, keep in touch. I'll let you know if anything comes up_, he typed. A few minutes later, Declan peeked in the door. I nodded at him, to show everything was alright, and he withdrew. Magnus didn't notice anything. She was still across my lap, lost in memories, I guess. She eventually fell asleep about twenty minutes later, and I eased out from under her. I crossed the room to the door. As I was nearing it, it opened again. Henry stood outside, holding a glass of red liquid and a sheet of paper. I put one finger to my lips, indicating she was asleep.

He whispered, "I brought you this," and handed me the glass of animal plasma. "I have to ask you something," he continued, "Have you seen Magnus acting strangely lately?"

"No…except…" I trailed off.

"Except?" he asked.

"Well, about a week and a half ago, she called me into her office. She said she was rescheduling my next surgery lesson to be Thursday instead of Wednesday. I was in my office working on Wednesday and she comes in, asking me why I wasn't down in the lab. She denied ever having called me into her office, and cancelled our lesson that day anyway."

"Huh," Henry said.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, I was going through her files and found a whole bunch of brain scans. They were hers, and apparently she had been scanning herself regularly for the last six years. They show a pattern of rapid brain deterioration," he said seriously.

"Brain deterioration?" I looked back at the sleeping Magnus.

"Yeah," Henry said, "Look, I got to get back to my lab. Will's got something he'd like me to investigate." He left and I went back over to the couch with my now empty glass and sat down. I gently lifted Magnus on top of me again, placing her in the position we were in before. I pulled the tablet back over to me. Will had sent me more messages.

One of them said, _Kate and I found something at the crime scene. A security camera that should have captured the whole thing, except it's missing. _Another read, _Henry is going to try to regain the video file from the police database, stand by. _The last, and most recent, just read, _Tayla?_

_I'm here, sorry_, I typed back.

He answered almost immediately. _There's been an interesting development. Declan has been charged by the Heads of House to gather evidence against her. He also is going to send in a Triad._

A Triad. They were a group of telepaths, hired to read a person's mind and discover lies and memories of incidents. For this kind of case, they would be very helpful in proving Magnus's innocence. If she was innocent. _No_, I told myself, _Don't even go there._

I sat there, thinking, and resumed my stroking of Magnus's hair. About ten minutes later, Will texted me again. _The video had been deleted from the police database by the chief. So, Henry hacked into his email. In it, we found an email sent to him from Magnus requesting the file be deleted. Also, Kate says one of her contacts says that Magnus bought a Red-List abnormal way over market price last week._

_What kind of abnormal? _I messaged him back.

_He wouldn't say_, Will replied, _Anyway, the Triad is here, and ready to see Magnus in ten minutes. Can you get her ready?_

_Sure, _I typed. I shook Magnus gently. She woke with a start, half getting up before she realized where she was.

"It's okay, you're okay," I said quickly.

"What's happening?" she asked as she sat up. She seemed more stable now.

"They've…they've called in a Triad. They want to speak with you in seven minutes," I said.

"Okay," she said, moving to a chair, "I'm ready." I moved to a chair behind her, and pulled up another for Will.

About five minutes later, the Triad walked in, along with Will and Declan. The Triad consisted of two men and a woman. Two of them sat down on the couch, while the other in an empty chair. Will sat down next to me and Declan at a table. The woman leaned forward from her seat on the couch.

"Shall we begin?" she asked. She hit the start button on the tape recorder. "We are going to ask you to open your mind and allow us inside," the one named Emma said. Magnus took a deep breath and nodded. The Triad closed their eyes and lowered their heads. In unison, the opened their eyes and looked at her. "Do you know why we're here?" asked Emma.

"You're the Triad, Emma. You're here to interrogate me," Magnus answered, an edge of reproach in her voice. Luckily, though, she had stopped crying and was looking at the Triad evenly, almost like normal.

"We don't want you to think of it that way, this, is an important matter," she looked at her colleagues, "but you're still innocent until proven otherwise." Magnus glanced at Will and me before Emma continued. "Now, three nights ago, there was an incident in Old City. Do you remember it?"

"No," Magnus shook her head. Emma shifted and looked at her colleagues. Was something wrong? Was Magnus lying?

"One of your oldest friends was killed," Emma continued.

"I don't remember," Magnus said.

"Do you remember walking into the alley and firing your weapon?"

"I can't…" Magnus was starting to get agitated again, I could tell. "I don't know what happened," Magnus said with conviction. Emma looked at the two men again, and one of them gave a very slight shake of his head.

The other man asked, "What is your relationship like with your staff?" I stared at him in disbelief. He even had to ask that question? Magnus looked between him and the rest of the Triad, alarmed.

"I didn't do this," she said.

"Just answer the questions," the man said.

"Why are you treating me like a common criminal?" Magnus asked.

"This investigation is in accordance with your charter," Emma pointed out calmly.

"Someone did this to me! And you're all just sitting here instead of trying to find them!" Magnus said angrily. The Triad shifted in position. "You're all in on this, aren't you?" Magnus asked, realization dawning on her face. I glanced at each of them in confusion. I looked at Will, and saw my own confusion mirrored in his face.

"You've done something to me—"

"Magnus—" Will started.

"No! No, leave me alone, all of you!" Magnus said, getting up from her chair and crossing the room away from us. "Get out of my house!"

"Okay, this is over," Will said, getting up too, "We can reconvene later." A brief smile crossed Emma's face. Why was that? I didn't have much time to think about it, because I had to catch up with Will to find out the Triad's verdict.

"Her mind is chaotic, damaged," Emma said outside as we walked down the hall. "I've seen this type of thing before. Symptoms of advanced dementia. It makes it impossible to read her thoughts, even with basic prompts to focus them."

"What, what does that mean?" Will asked.

"Telepathy is our most reliable source of information, but it's, it's not the only one," she said quickly, "We'll need to look over the existing physical evidence until we can understand why we can't read her mind. Will, I'm…I'm sorry. I know you were hoping for better news."

Will pushed past her, probably going up to Henry's lab. I turned back the way we'd come. I hit my passcode on the panel, and the door slid open. Magnus was pacing the room, still angry. She didn't stop me as I came in. I picked up my tablet computer which was still lying on the table. Magnus stopped pacing and turned to look at me.

"Are you working with them?" she asked suspiciously.

"No," I said firmly, "I'm trying to help you." She looked at me again searchingly, and then sat down in a chair across from me. I had two new messages.

_Declan sent an email to the Heads of House requesting to be put in charge of this Sanctuary. Motive unknown_, the message from Will read. The second one was just as pleasant. _The video from the alley came up in the police back-up database. Magnus did kill the Big Guy. The Triad has pronounced her to have a mental deficiency. Magnus is to be transported to a medical facility first thing in the morning. Also, Declan will assume command of this Sanctuary. I think one of the telepaths might be involved in the crime._

Great. Just what we needed. Declan in charge and a telepathic criminal.

"What does it say?" Magnus asked. I passed it over. I was on her side now. If she went down, I did too. Her face became ashen as she read the messages.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

She considered the question a moment and then answered, "I want to go where they won't find me. A safe place. A Sanctuary."

"I can get you there," I told her. "Will's going to come in to say goodbye to you. The door will open after he enters his passcode on this side. You knock him out, but do NOT kill him, and I will leave the door to the catacombs unlocked. You can meet me at the other side, and we'll find a safe place, together." She nodded in agreement. "I have to go now. Don't tell anyone about the plan, or the telepaths will read their mind." She nodded again. I was taking a big chance that the telepaths wouldn't read my mind, but I would try to stay clear of them. Proximity matters in telepathy, I remembered from Magnus's library.

I entered my passcode and half expected her to jump on me from behind. I turned. She stood there, watching me. I closed the door and stepped out into the hallway. I went to my room and used my tablet computer to access the cameras. No one was monitoring them right now, and Will was approaching Magnus. I shut down the tablet and left it on my bed so they couldn't track us. I slipped out of my room and sprinted softly down the hallway. I unlocked the door to the catacombs and stepped inside.

Once out, I focused my vampire hearing on Henry's lab. He was saying to Declan over the radio: "Uh, yeah. You're too late. She's already gone."

A few minutes later Magnus joined me in the sunlight. She blinked several times, and then shaded her eyes again the sun. "Where are we going?" she asked, squinting in the sunlight. It wasn't that bright. "Oh, uh, we're going to a place near my mom's old house. Umm…can you drive?" She gave me look that, if we weren't in our current situation would have been quite funny. Plus, she looked like the Magnus I knew and loved. We selected a random car in a nearby parking lot, and I stuck my nail in the key slot, and, since I didn't feel like keeping it there the whole trip, broke it off. It immediately healed again, and Magnus turned the one in the key slot and the engine started. Magnus muttered something about gas-guzzling vehicles and pollution as we drove out of the parking lot. We sped onto the highway. I directed her to and old storage facility about a mile past my old house. We crept inside, and Magnus sat down on a crate. "I'm going to call Kate from a pay phone miles away from here. I'll be right back, okay?" she nodded her assent. I sprinted with superhuman speed out of the warehouse. I ran past the highway, past the Sanctuary and into a residential area and stopped at the first pay phone I found. I dialed Kate's number and waited as her cell phone rang.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Kate. Meet me by the broken bridge in twenty."

"Okay, why?"

"I need to…show you something," I answered, "Come alone." I hit the off button and sprinted away towards broken bridge. I sat on the railing waiting for her. She brought a Sanctuary Van, so I made her leave it there. I heard from Will that there were trackers on those things.

"Okay, I'm here. What?" Kate asked as she got out of the car.

"I had to get you out of the range of the telepaths. I know where Magnus is, but you have to promise not to turn her in," I told her.

"Okay. Fine. I promise."

"Follow me."

"Wait a minute," Kate stopped me, "You didn't just find her, you hid her, didn't you?"

"So what?" I asked.

"Nothing. I'd hate to be you when we get back to the Sanctuary and Magnus gives her report of the incident to the other Heads of House. I can see the Sanctuary paper headline already. 'TAYLA CASPARIAN, SACKED FOR ASSISTANCE IN THE ESCAPE OF A PATIENT IN NEED OF MEDICAL ATTENTION.' " I laughed. Kate seemed so sure that Magnus was going to be alright, that everything would go back to normal. I wish I had her confidence. We jogged back to the storage building, me having to go extra slow for her. I had forgotten how slow regular humans were. We reached the warehouse and I went in first.

"Magnus? Magnus, its Kate and Tayla," I called into the darkness. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw she was still sitting on her crate.

"Kate, get Will, we need him," I said. I sat down with Magnus for a little while before Kate came back. Magnus retreated into the shadows as she heard voices outside. I followed her.

"I had to get you out of the range of the telepaths before I brought you here," Kate was saying.

"What is this place?" Will asked.

"Storage facility," Kate answered, "part of the university before they shut it down. My guy swears she saw her coming in." She shone her flashlight around like she didn't know where Magnus was. I guess she wasn't going to reveal my part in it. Alright, I would try to keep it that way. Kate was making me the back up. If she and Will were found here with Magnus, I would still have a clean record and would be help later.

"Magnus?" Will called.

"Doc?" Kate asked, "are you down here?"

"Magnus, it's Will and Kate."

Suddenly, Magnus ran at them from my corner, wielding a piece of wood I hadn't noticed she had. Will ducked and Kate jumped back, crashing into a wall.

"Hold on a second!" Will yelled.

"Leave me alone, stay back!"

"We don't want to hurt you," Will said, "We're here to help you."

"Magnus!" I hissed, "Listen to him!" She looked torn, deciding whether to brain Will with the wood slab or not.

"Come on Magnus," Will said, "Now, you've knocked me out once today. One per day, that's your limit."

It was like the real Magnus broke through. "Will?" she asked. She dropped the piece of wood on the floor and retreated to the wall. "What's happening to me?" she asked, her eyes filled with tears.

"Magnus, let me help you," Will said.

Several minutes later, Magnus was pacing the wall nearest me as Will and Kate talked. They were debating where they could take her when Will's cell rang. He talked with Henry for a minute before hanging up. "I'm meeting Henry at Dead Bridge," Will announced. As soon as he left, I stepped out of my corner. Kate and I sat down on the crate, waiting for him to come back. I heard noises outside, and retreated into the shadows of my corner once more.

"How'd it go?" Kate asked getting up from her crate. Magnus stopped pacing.

"Good. Henry thinks he's found something, so—" There was the heavy clunking sounds of many boots at the top of the stairs. Declan appeared, along with many men carrying stunners.

"Magnus!" Declan yelled. Will and Kate moved in to protect her. Kate raised her gun, and Declan and his men pointed theirs at her.

"Put it down, Miss Freelander," Declan said, "Right now!"

"You brought them here?" Magnus said, turning to Will, hurt registering on her face.

"No," Will said, "No, it wasn't me."

"Actually, it was," Declan said, coming down the stairs.

"What the hell is this?" Will yelled at him.

"I could very well ask you the same question," he said, just as loudly, "Dr. Magnus, you are herby remanded into custody. You'll come quietly please."

"No!" she yanked her arm out of one of the men's grip, "No!" She ran to the other side of the room, crashing into a crate. "No! No! Get your hands off me, let go of me!"

"Hey, take it easy!" Will shouted from where Declan was restraining him.

"She's becoming more dangerous, it's time to take extreme measures" he said to Will, and then to his men: "Confine her in the Shu. Maximum security." Magnus struggled, but she was no match for the two men holding her.

"Will!" she shouted as the pushed her up the stairs, "Will!"

When they all left including Kate, who cast an unhappy glance in my direction as she left, I stole out of my corner. I ran back to the Sanctuary undetected. I managed to get into the meeting room without anyone noticing. The telepaths were still there, but too busy to notice me, much less read my thoughts.

"You made a big mistake, mate," Declan was saying, "We're not the enemy." He went on to say some stuff about Big Bertha, but I wasn't really listening. I was trying to piece together the puzzle of information in my head. It was like one crucial piece was missing, and without it none of us could see the pattern. During the meeting, Emma took an irate Will out of the room at one point, which was when I gave up without further information. Just then, we all got called up to Henry's lab.

"Oh my God," Emma was saying, staring at the screen, "She's alive."

"Not only that, but Magnus is moving her," Declan said.

"Where?" one of the telepaths asked.

"Just says she's in a container in the Arabian Sea," Declan said, "Look at the AS data."

"What is she thinking?" the other telepath said.

"We need to mobilize the nearest Sanctuary retrieval team immediately. Big Bertha falls into the wrong hands…it would be disastrous."

"I'll make the arrangements," Declan said. He left.

"Still think she's innocent?" the telepath called Scofield asked Will. Will just frowned angrily and left too. I cast an angry glance at all three telepaths and followed Will. He walked down to his office and started pulling books from their shelves.

"You're leaving?" I asked.

"I will continue to search for the truth. I just…can't do it from here anymore," he answered without looking up.

"I understand," I said, "I'll go with Magnus to the facility. I can't stay here either."

Will was silent for a few minutes as he continued to pack. "Declan says if we want to say goodbye we should use the audio system outside her cell."

"Okay," I paused, "Kate's going to stay here and work it out from the inside." I left the room then, heading for Magnus's cell in the Shoe. I stood at the edge of the glass, watching her rhythmic breathing and listening to the machine that went _beep_ with every beat of her heart. Will came in too, a few minutes later. I stepped back, allowing him an unobstructed view of Magnus lying in her bed, restraints on her wrists and ankles. He looked at her for a moment, and then hit the audio button.

"Magnus," he said, "I don't know if you can hear me," She didn't move. "Or if you even care anymore, but I just…I just came to say goodbye. And I'm sorry that this happened and I'm sorry I let you down. I want you to know that I'm going to keep searching for the truth as long as I can, I just…can't do it from here anymore." She shifted slightly. Then she started pulling against the restraints, thrashing, her eyes still closed. "Magnus? Magnus!" Will ran for the panel and hit the emergency button. "I need some help down here!" he yelled into the speaker. I ran up the levels to find Declan. I met him on the stairs and he hurriedly opened the door and added a vial of clear liquid to her IV. She stopped struggling and lay still. We all stood around her bed.

"I've put her in a drug-induced coma to stop her seizures," Declan said, "I'm afraid her condition's escalating. It doesn't look good. I'm sorry." Kate, Will, Henry, and I all looked at each other before Declan continued. "Now there's more bad news. We just got word from our retrieval team. The ship we were tracking was attacked by mercenaries. By the time we boarded it, the cargo had been stolen. Big Bertha's gone." He left us four standing there. Sooner or later, Will left too for a last visit to the Big Guy's tomb. Kate went back up to Henry's lab. I pulled up a stool next to Magnus's bed. Henry did too, neither of us saying a word. This was too much like what I imagined my mother's death to be. Still, unmoving. Blind to the world. Except Magnus wasn't bleeding out all over our driveway. It had only been six hours since I was at her grave, but it felt like years. The difference was that my mother died from a gunshot wound, while I was dragged away by Cabal agents. The last glimpse I had of her was her life blood spreading out onto the concrete. I could imagine Magnus's spirit draining out of her like that while she was lying on this bed, stripped of everything that made her life worth living: her daughter, and the Sanctuary Network.

Suddenly Will burst in, breaking us both from our reveries. "Where's the Triad?" he asked.

"They left hours ago, why?" Henry asked, turning on his stool to look at Will.

"Alright, we're going to run a scan on Magnus's brain right now." Will hit the table. "Big Guy's not dead." We both stared at him, and for a second I was afraid he was going crazy too. Then a series of memories flooded into my head. "_As of now, all evidence points to Helen Magnus. They voted to send in a Triad." "I think one of the telepaths might be involved in the crime." Emma's small smile after Magnus lost it during her interrogation. "Big Bertha falling into the wrong hands…it would be disastrous." _Then it all made sense. I prepped the scanner and Will conducted the scan. We went back to Henry's lab to view the results.

"This can't be right," Henry said, "Where's the deterioration?"

"It never existed," Will answered, "Those other brain scans weren't real."

"Then why did she flake out?" Kate asked, looking at Will.

"I don't know," Will answered, "but I'm guessing she did it on purpose to conceal her thoughts from the Triad." He turned to Henry, "Okay. You're Magnus, and you want to create these symptoms. What do you do?"

"I don't follow you," Henry said.

"Well, is there a type of abnormal that would cause her to act this way?"

"Ozone beetle," Kate said suddenly.

"What, are you crazy?" Henry asked.

"Right there," Kate pointed it out, "on her skin, the dark spot."

"What…what's an Ozone beetle?"

"It's a bug that crawls into your brain and nests in your hippocampus," Henry answered Will, "but it…they're…"

"Red-listed," Kate cut in, a smile on her face.

"The dealer she met last week," Will said, "What does it do?"

"It secretes this fluid that gives you this wicked high, but when you leave it in there too long, it—"

"Causes memory loss, paranoia, and increased sensitivity to light," Henry finished.

"Which is why she hid in the basement," Kate said, with a glance at me telling me to go with it. The basement part wasn't true, but it did explain why she was blinking and squinting so much after we got out of the catacombs.

"Okay, we got to get it out of her," Will said, standing up.

"Alright, I'll go get a room ready," Henry said as he hurried and left.

"Why would she do this?" Kate asked.

"Do you still have that email that she sent you last week?" Will asked, gesturing to the computer.

"Yeah, think so," Kate said as she typed a command into the computer.

"There," she said as the email came up. There was something wrong with it. I was about to voice my thoughts when Will said, "Right there," he pointed it out, "She spelled 'retrieve' wrong." Kate looked at him.

"So…?"

"No, Magnus is a spelling Nazi, she'd never do that," Will said, almost laughing. He pulled the key board toward. I smiled too. Magnus and I were both 'spelling Nazis' as Will put it. He clicked the word and highlighted it. He replaced 'retreve' with 'retrieve'.

"Yeah but five minutes ago I never would have believed she would put a bug in her head either…" Kate stopped as the email was replaced with a map showing Africa. "Whoa…what the hell is that?" she asked.

"Africa," Will answered. The map zoomed in on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and a critical information bubble popped up. A little red circle appeared, blinking every few seconds. "I think we've just found the location of Big Bertha."

Will ran out of the room and got Declan. "We need a chopper. Now," Will panted.

"Why?" Declan asked.

"We've found Big Bertha," I said, "And the Big Guy's not dead, and Magnus's condition doesn't exist!" He stared at me. As quickly as we could, we summarized what we had found out, ending with the location on the map. Declan made a phone call.

"We leave immediately," he announced.

"I'm not going," I said. They all looked at me, surprised. "We need to get the bug out of Magnus, remember? She taught me the basics of surgery, I can do this!"

"Okay," Will said, "Henry says the lab is ready."

Henry came up to me. "Let's go." We headed for Magnus's cell in the Shu. Together we hoisted her limp body up onto a movable cart. I wheeled it off down the hallway towards the elevator. Once we got into the room, I prepped my surgical tools. Henry flipped Magnus onto her stomach, and I got started. I made the first incision very carefully. She didn't stir. Whatever Declan gave her must have been doing a good job. I opened the cut and looked inside. The Ozone beetle was at the very base of her hippocampus. I took my forceps and tried to pull it out. I pulled, but it wriggled out of my grasp, slick with her blood. The forceps were getting me nowhere. When Henry wasn't looking, I slid out my nails and hooked the beetle under its belly. I lifted it out, dripping, and dropped it into a container. Her body shuddered. Henry took the container from me and closed the lid tightly. I stitched up her neck as well as I could, and bandaged it. She came to as I was rolling up the leftover bandages into a roll. "Henry," I said. I looked down at her. "Hey, you're awake." Henry came over and took her hand.

"Yes," she breathed, and even softer, "Tayla, thank you." Then her head rolled back onto the pillow. I wheeled her cart into the infirmary and placed her gently in a real bed. Henry left then, saying he had to meet Will, Kate, and Declan at the helicopter landing pad. I locked the door because Magnus would be too tired for an interrogation by anybody for a day or two.

She slept for a long time and when she finally awoke, I was still sitting beside her.

"Hey," I said. I brushed a few stray wisps of her hair back to where they belonged.

"Big Bertha?" she asked weakly.

"We got her," I assured her, "You rest now, okay?" She closed her eyes again, the drugs pulling her back under.

A few days later, she was feeling much better and was sitting up in bed against the pillow. I let Will and Kate in. Magnus smiled as they walked through the door. I pulled up three extra stools. Will's first question was,

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You knew Emma was bad news from Day One."

"Day One might be pushing it," Magnus answered, smiling, "But over the past few years, I've been noticing a series of information leaks that couldn't be traced back to the Cabal."

"So you came up with this INSANE plan," Will said, "to dangle Big Bertha in front of her—"

"Drop an Ozone beetle to take yourself out of the picture," Kate interrupted.

"Kill the Big Guy," Will continued, "which I'm still not entirely sure about, by the way."

"And not tell any of us so we couldn't blow your cover!" Kate finished.

"Quite simple, really," Magnus said, smiling and looking around at us all.

"Yeah, yeah, totally simple," Will said sarcastically.

"Okay, so spill. What was the gag on the Big Guy?" Kate asked.

"The _Subcutaneous Fashionalaripus_ species is four times thicker than that of humans," Magnus explained.

"The bullets didn't penetrate," Will said, understanding.

"But…Henry examined him, I mean, he was dead," Kate said, looking confused.

"In a manner of speaking," Magnus said, looking at Kate, "I tipped the bullets with a secretion of a Chilean shepherd frog. It slowed his heart enough to feign death."

"Oh my God, oh my God, you're crazy," Will said, putting his hand over his face and turning away, "You're certifiably crazy! I should have let them take you away!"

"Nonsense," Magnus said, laughing, "I knew you'd figure it out. Besides, I'd left careful instructions to call the whole thing off in two days time if things went badly."

"The Big Guy," Will said, nodding along with Kate, "speaking of which, shouldn't he be back by now?" Magnus nodded, and Kate and Will left to find him, leaving me alone with Magnus again.

"Tayla…" she began. I looked at her. "I'm sorry I chose this time to do this. I know you were with your mom at her grave when you received that call."

"It's okay," I said, "She died quickly. She probably didn't feel anything."

"I'm sorry. I should've waited, but it was then or never."

"I understand," I said, and then paused, "It's just hard because…I don't really know who I am anymore. When I was visiting her grave…it was like it didn't really feel right anymore."

"You aren't Tayla Casparian anymore," Magnus said gently.

"I know. Tayla Casparian died when she was first injected with the Source Blood. But then…who am I?"

"Who do you think? Search inside yourself for the answer."

"I think…well, I think…" I went ahead and took the plunge, "I think I'm now Tayla Magnus."

Magnus smiled and nodded, accepting it. "I think you're right. Tayla Casparian died with the Cabal. Welcome, Tayla Magnus, to you rebirth." We both smiled, and my eyes shone with gratitude.


	5. Next Tuesday: A Natural Tribute

"Tayla...there's something you should see." I crossed Henry's lab to look at the computer Will was standing tensely by. "These are the police files on you and your family," Will said.

"Then what are those?" I asked, pointing to a separate set of documents.

"That's," Will swallowed, "that's the Cabal's information on you."

I stared at the file. "What do you mean, on me? That file's about someone named Juliana Cabalus," I said, half wanting the file to be about me and half afraid of the truths it might contain.

"Juliana Cabalus? Cabalus?" Kate said, "Seriously Tayla, that's the most obvious fake name ever." I hadn't seen Kate come in, but then again, I was dealing with the mixed feelings about what might be in that file, so I wasn't really paying attention. Wordlessly, I passed Will my flash drive. He looked at me and seemed to understand that I wanted to view the file privately. He plugged it in and copied both files. He handed it back to me when he was done.

"Tayla..." he began haltingly, "Just...just remember that you aren't the Cabal's anymore."

I nodded and then swept out of the room with many concerned glances following me. I hardly noticed the trip to my room, except that all the while my heart was beating faster than normal with nervous tension. Shaking slightly, I sat down on my bed and pulled out my tablet computer. I carefully inserted the flash drive into the USB port and opened the police file first. _Tayla Casparian_, it read. _Status: Missing Last seen: July 18__th__, 2010_. The rest of the file was all gibberish, nothing useful. It talked about where I lived and what witnesses said and stuff like that. All stuff I already knew. Slowly I pulled up the other file. _Juliana Cabalus: received July 18__th__, 2010 to facility BETA. Put into the care of Dr. Liza P. Whinthripe. Species: Human. Lab #274. Project BETA. Current status: Sanguine Vampiris Stage 2._The rest was all gibberish to me, descriptions of medications and whatnot—stuff Magnus would find very interesting but not even worth looking at for me. I sighed and leaned back on my bed. There was no great secrets in the files that would help me come to terms with what I'd become. I sighed again and closed my eyes, thinking of taking a short nap. I was awoken a few hours later by the sound of Will's agitated voice outside my door.

"Come on, Magnus!" Will was saying. In a calmer, more persuasive voice, he continued, "Just—just come on. Just say it with me once…Reykjavik. I love that word." I heard Magnus's exasperated sigh.

"Yes, you've told me a dozen times," she said.

"But I'm talking vodka, good food, fresh-faced women with names like Goodmansdottir…stimulating conversation under intricate ice sculptures…" Will said, rambling on. Their voices faded more as they continued down the hallway and into Magnus's office, but I subconsciously used my vampire hearing to continue listening.

"Will, I've already told you, you can't go to the conference," Magnus said.

"Why?" Will asked. They sounded like they'd gone over this before.

"Some things have come up," Magnus said evasively. Something was up.

"Things, what things?" Will asked impatiently.

"Well, for starters, our sensors have picked up a very rare abnormal in the Gulf of Mexico."

"And?"

"Mutated Vampyrateuthis Infernalis, a vampire squid; incredibly shy. I've only ever encountered one once before, sixty odd years ago in French Polynesia," Magnus explained.

"Okay, so a shy vampire; there's a first." I rolled my eyes. _I'm a vampire, and guess what Will, I'm shy!_ I thought.

Magnus and Will were still talking. "Actually, the name is misleading. They're amazingly intelligent and very docile. It's believed that they're called vampire not because of a violent predilection, but more because of their superior intellect," Magnus was saying.

"You know, this is fascinating, it really is, but—" Will started.

"The beacon is coming from an abandoned oil rig off the Louisiana coast," Magnus interrupted him.

"Okay, so one of our retrieval teams will pick it up, bring it back, boom." Will said.

"They're all in mission mode right now. I'd rather not interrupt them for something as simple as this. We will charter a helicopter in New Orleans and fly out there," Magnus said.

"Hey, take Kate! Or Tayla!"

"Neither Kate nor Tayla can dive. I need you!" Magnus said. Will groaned loudly.

"Okay, okay, so...I'll miss the opening reception, but I'll still be there to give my presentation. Fine, I'll go," Will said unhappily.

"Actually no, I need you here for the next few days." This part was new to me.

"Why?" Will asked. I sat up to hear better.

"I have a meeting in Berlin with my UN Security Council liaison, very time sensitive."

"Henry," Will suggested.

"He's in Tasmania surfing."

"The Big Guy."

"Is with him."

"Kate!" Will said, annoyed.

"Is not ready for an extended period of being in charge," Magnus said.

"No, no, no, no, no, because I told you about this trip months ago, okay? I'm a guest speaker. They're giving me a nice hotel room. I'm touring Fjords!" Will said.

"There's always next year."

"Which is next year!"

"I'm sorry, Will. This is not a request," Magnus said. Will stormed out of her office, coming out into the hallway. I emerged from my room with my tablet computer and greeted him. He still looked annoyed and mad.

"Hi Will," I said.

"Hey," he replied, forcing himself to smile at me.

"Where are you going?" I asked in an attempt of lightness.

"To Henry's lab. He's working on an upgrade to the room-scanner before he left for Tasmania and he wanted me to test it while he was gone."

"Oh okay. I'm headed to Magnus's office. She said she wants to see me." At Magnus's name, his face darkened almost imperceptibly. "See you later," I finished. We parted ways and I headed down to Magnus's office. She was sitting at her computer typing an email.

"Tayla," she said when she looked up, "Did Henry give you the files?"

"Yeah," I said as I handed her the tablet computer, "Here's the Cabal's medical files on me."

She took it and stared at the file interestedly. She scanned the words and then looked back up at me.

"I finished with your identity," she said.

"How?" I asked, surprised, "I thought that was super complicated or something." She had to recreate my identity, social security number, etc. because I couldn't really go back to my life as Tayla Casparian. I'd have to deal with questions from the police and the funeral and legal problems…it was much easier to forge a new identity.

"I pulled some strings with the federal government. Here's your social security number and your adoption certificate." I took the papers.

"Thank you," I said.

"I also asked Will to teach you to drive when you turn sixteen in September." I smiled. She began to type again as I turned to leave, papers folded in the back pocket of my jeans. Halfway across the room, I stopped as a thought occurred to me. I lingered there for a second before turning back.

"Magnus?" I asked. She looked up. "When you were talking with Will earlier, you said 'Well, for starters,' to the vampire squid. If it was 'for starters' shouldn't there be something else?" She looked down at her desk and then up at me again.

"The squid and the liaison. That's all," she said, not meeting my eyes. I kept looking at her. Finally she looked down again and picked up something off her desk. She tossed it to me, and I caught it easily.

"What…?" I asked as I stared at the calendar in my hands. It was opened to August. Magnus's neat handwriting filled most of the boxes: details on shipments to be ordered or received, meetings, surgeries, etc. One of them was different, however. It only had one line written on it. The date read: Tuesday, August 3rd. On it, Magnus had written _Ashley's birthday_. I looked up at Magnus.

"This is why you wanted Will to stay?" I asked gently. She nodded almost imperceptibly and looked down again. "Oh Magnus…" I went over to her and placed the calendar carefully back on her desk. "Don't worry. I'll be here." She looked at me gratefully. I left the room quietly and closed her office door. As the crack disappeared, I saw her pick up a picture of Ashley and look at it longingly, a single tear rolling delicately down her cheek.

I had told Kate and Will this morning that I would join them for lunch, so I headed down to the cafeteria. Kate was there already, but Will as probably still working on the scanner. I opened the fridge Tesla and I shared and pulled out a jug of animal plasma. After testing it carefully for wine, I poured some into a glass. I stuck the jug back in the fridge and closed the door. Pulling up a chair at Kate's table, I asked, "What's up?"

"Nothing much," she answered, "Just finished scrubbing the outside of Sally's tank. You?"

"Magnus finished creating my new identity. I've got a social security number and everything." I pulled the papers out of my pocket and held them up, my hand casually over the social security number.

"Can I see them?" Kate asked, holding out her hand. I looked at Kate with her con-artist history.

"Ummm…no," I said.

"Very smart of you," she said smiling as she withdrew her hand. Just as I was sticking the papers back in my pocket Will hurried in.

"Magnus wants us to leave right now, so I'm afraid I can't do lunch," he said, "See you tomorrow night." He sounded angry. He turned and stomped out into the hallway where he began his argument all over again with Magnus. I got up quickly. I entered the hall in time to see Magnus walking quickly away from Will, who was going over the good points of Reykjavik again.

"Stop it!" I said seriously as I caught his arm. He turned to look at me. "Seriously! Stop pressing her!"

I took off with inhuman swiftness back to the cafeteria and sat down again. Will's footsteps told me he was running to catch up with Magnus. Hopefully to apologize, but I doubted it. Will didn't understand how he was hurting her because he was too nervous to tell him about Ashley. She had to tell him sometime though.

I went back to my seat by Kate, who raised an eyebrow. I shook my head. Changing the subject she asked, "Well, what's for lunch?"

"Will was supposed to make us all some of his special chicken noodle soup. But, since he's not here, I say sandwiches," I answered.

"Okay," she agreed.

I pulled out turkey and cheese from the fridge while she took bread out of the cupboard. I also pulled a head of lettuce out of the vegetable drawer. As we made our sandwiches, we debated why Magnus chose to charter a helicopter instead of taking one of the ones she owned.

"Maybe they were too far away," Kate suggested.

"Nah," I said, "She could just call Druitt to take her there. Maybe they were being repaired or something."

"All of them broke down at once?" Kate scoffed. We continued the debate as we ate our sandwiches. When we were finished, we still hadn't figured out the answer.

"Who knows why she does anything?" Kate said, "She's a 158-year old wacko." I smiled in spite of myself.

"What do you guys do when she's gone and hasn't assigned you anything?"

"Well…usually we watch Stargate SG-1 in the library with the big screen, but Will and Henry are gone. Do you think they'd object if we watched the next few episodes without them?"

"Yeah," I said, "Is there anything else good to watch in there?"

"I don't know; we could check," Kate said. We took our plates and washed them. Then we headed down to the library and sifted through the DVDs on the rack.

"Nature documentaries…more nature documentaries…_The Titanic_…._Planet Earth_…" Kate muttered as she looked at the rows of cases.

"Hey, what about this?" I pulled an orange DVD case from the rack and examined the cover. "_Firefly_, starring Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, and Ron Glass."

"Interesting…" Kate came over to look, "Let's try it." I slipped the first DVD into the player and settled back on the couch next to Kate. It was pretty good.

"Magnus has good taste," I commented to Kate during our third episode. After about five episodes, I switched the TV off. We headed to the cafeteria again and had a very early dinner.

"It isn't like Magnus to leave us nothing to do," Kate said as we were finishing. She looked at me carefully. "She has seemed a little distracted lately." I gave a noncommittal shrug and didn't answer.

"You know what?" I changed the subject, "I left my tablet computer in Magnus's office. I have to get it." I pushed my chair in with my foot. Kate followed me to Magnus's office. As I picked up my tablet computer from her desk, Kate noticed the calendar, still open to August.

"Ashley's birthday is Tuesday?" she asked, looking up at me. I nodded. Kate leaned over the calendar again and I took the tablet computer off stand by. A message bubble popped up. _Scan completed,_ it read, _2 items found to match. Click here to view_. I tapped it and a document came up. Magnus must have initiated the scan before she left. I stared at the document for a minute before comprehending what I was seeing. It had my great-uncle's name on it, Frank Worth. According to the files, he had worked with The Five and helped Magnus procure the Source Blood. Below that paragraph, a family tree was drawn. It showed Frank Worth and Adam Worth as my great-uncles and then my father, Albert Worth. The names meant nothing to me, but the fact my great-uncle had known Magnus and worked with her astounded me. Did she know I was related to Frank Worth, the guy who helped her find the Source Blood? Then on the second half of the page was a short biography of my dad.

"What is it?" Kate interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, umm, here look."

"Your great-uncle helped Magnus retrieve the Source Blood a hundred and thirty years ago?"

I flipped to the other document the scan came up with. It was another Cabal paper, but it was more like medical records. There were five names listed under the word BETA: Alfred Cabalus, Lia Cabalus, Danaka Cabalus, Juliana Cabalus, and George Cabalus. Juliana Cabalus! That was what the Cabal named me! But…but…did that mean…I wasn't the only one changed in this way by the Cabal? Were there more vampires?

I proffered the computer to Kate. Her eyes widened as she realized what it meant.

"There are more of you!" she exclaimed, looking at me shocked.

"I guess so," I said.

"If this is real, and there are more vampires, then…"

"We have to find them," I finished. We looked at each other. "I have to call Magnus. Helicopters have radios, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Kate agreed. I sat down in Magnus's chair and typed a command into her computer. I set it to broadcast and pick up on the Sanctuary frequency. I had just hit the button to broadcast my voice when I heard Magnus coming through.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is A-star 350 N-zero-X-one-seven-J. Aircraft down. Requesting immediate assistance. We are at 27 degrees north by 89 degrees west. Two souls onboard. Mayday, mayday, mayday..." I heard some clicks and then nothing.

"They crashed?" Kate asked.

"Do you think they're okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah. Magnus has been stranded at sea before, they're fine."

"Really? When?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"April 14, 1912. The Titanic."

"Wow."

"Anyway, you can't fly a chopper out there, can you?" Kate asked. I looked at her incredulously.

"I can't even drive. You thought I could fly a helicopter?" I asked laughing. Kate cocked her head.

"I was just checking. We should call Declan and see if he has someone." I picked up the phone.

"What's his number?" I asked, poised to punch in the buttons. Kate looked at me.

"Here, I'll do it," she said, rolling her eyes as she snatched the phone away from me. She hit the numbers and put it on speaker phone. Declan picked up.

"Magnus and Will's chopper went down in the ocean," I informed him, "but neither of us can fly a chopper."

"How do you know?" Declan asked.

"We were on the Sanctuary frequency when we heard Magnus's mayday. The coordinates are 27 degrees north by 89 degrees west."

"Okay," Declan said, "We're calling in a helicopter pilot in your area. Bring a long rope ladder, medical supplies, and blankets when you meet us at the Sanctuary helicopter landing pad."

"You mean there are Sanctuary helicopters ready for flight? Why didn't Magnus and Will just take one of those?"

"They were being repaired and updated, and one is done. Anyway, I have to go. One of the abnormals is giving birth." I clicked the phone off. Kate looked at me.

"I'll get the rope ladder, you get the medical supplies and blankets," she said. I took off down the corridor running. We needed to get there before nightfall in order to be able to find them. I opened a closet and found two spare blankets. As an afterthought, I grabbed towels too. I ran down the stairs to find a medical kit. The only one I could find (remember, I'm still pretty new to this place) was a very basic one: bandages, ibuprofen, cleansing stuff etc. It would have to do. I scooped it up and headed for a van. Kate was there, loading a rope ladder into the trunk. I climbed into the passenger seat and fastened my seat belt as Kate did the same in the driver's seat. She backed out of the spot and soon we were cruising through the streets of Old City, slower than we would have liked because of the traffic. Every time I saw a teenager, I thought that maybe they were one of the Cabal's vampires. Twenty minutes later, we reached our destination: a hard flat grey handing pad with a helicopter emblazoned 'Sanctuary 3' on both sides. Kate and I parked and approached the helicopter. A shifty man with shaggy brown/gray hair poked his head out of the front.

"Eh? You two Kate 'n Tayla?" he called in a gruff voice. I didn't entirely trust this strange man, but Declan had obviously put him here for a reason.

"Yes," I replied, "Are you our pilot?" He didn't reply, but helped us hoist our supplies into the chopper. Kate and I climbed in, and the guy got in the front. I could hear the blades start to spin, slowly at first and then faster and faster. Before long we were rising off the ground. We banked right and flew over open ocean.

The whole trip none of us said a word, Kate and I because we were so deep in our own thoughts, and the pilot because I guess he wasn't a very talkative man. My thoughts raged through my head, trying to trample each other, all vying for my attention. First and foremost was the fear that we were too late, that something had gone wrong and Magnus or Will was gone forever. Then there was the anxiousness to begin the search for the other vampires. Maybe they're lost, or hunted, or… my tumultuous thoughts raged on.

"We are approaching the coordinates," our pilot spoke the first words of the trip. We both were jerked from our thoughts to search the water. The sun was already setting, so we didn't have much time. We searched for about ten minutes; even my vampire sight couldn't locate them in the rolling waves.

"We're approaching an oil rig in about five minutes," said our pilot, "I'm going to have to pull up for a minute to go over it." Just as we were approaching the rig, a huge fireball and even bigger cloud of smoke exploded out of it.

"What was that?" I yelled, jumping backward and hitting my seat.

"A flare?" Kate asked.

"No, too big. What if it was a gasoline-soaked flare?"

"Or maybe it was the chopper exploding," Kate said. The smile on my face faded as I realized what she meant. No, Magnus couldn't be dead. She couldn't. I leaned forward in my seat in anticipation. When we were directly over the rig, I looked down. A blue speck and purple speck were visible, along with various burning items.

"They're down there!" I shouted. "Magnus, Will, can you hear me?" They both looked up and saw the chopper. I couldn't see very well, but I could've sworn Magnus smiled and Will grinned and did a dance that caused him to slip underwater and come up sputtering. Kate and I pulled the rope ladder from in between the seats and dropped it out my door. It unrolled into the rig. Will helped Magnus up and then she pulled him safely onto the ladder. Kate and I strained and managed to lift them out of the rig. If it hadn't been for my inhuman strength, I doubt we would have been able to do it and instead would've had to do them one at a time. They emerged on the chopper, dripping but I didn't care. They were in their wetsuits, and Will had stopped complaining about his trip to Iceland. Maybe Magnus had come clean about Ashley's birthday while they were stuck there together. I hugged her, getting myself all wet. I was so glad to see her again. She returned my hug and then looked around. Just then I noticed there were only four seats.

"I'll stand while we fly. I've done more dangerous things in my life," she laughed. Will nodded gratefully and took the empty seat next to the pilot, who looked bored. Magnus crouched between Kate and I. The chopper resumed moving back the way we'd come.

"So what happened down there?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much, we just witnessed the epic battle between Squidly and a scorpion," Will joked.

"Will!" Magnus said, giving him a fake stern look.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I mean Calamari and a scorpion," he said looking at her with a playfully defiant stare. Magnus rolled her eyes.

**~~o0o~~**

Two days later, I had told Magnus about the other vampires, and she agreed that I should look for them. Henry, when he got back, would search for more information. I told her I didn't want to leave the Sanctuary to search, so she said I could conduct my search here between missions. That was last night. Today, however, she wasn't up to doing much of anything. It was Tuesday, August 3rd. Ashley's birthday. I found her in the atrium where we had buried Ashley that morning. She was staring at the tombstone, which read

_Ashley Magnus 1989-2010 Monster-hunter, battle girl, daughter, friend, companion, brave, fearless, hot, strong, understanding: May she rest in peace._

I stood by her in quiet companionship. She acknowledged me with a glance. She was not crying, but she seemed close. We stood there together, paying tribute to a gifted girl who sacrificed everything to save her mom and the world as the first rays of dawn light entered the atrium, lighting everything with a shimmering golden brilliance. Her tomb sparkled and shone with a hypnotic light, a natural tribute to the girl herself.


	6. Penance: The Best of All Mirages

My hands gripped the edges of my bed like a lifeline. The covers were strewn all over by my thrashing. I arched my back as another wave hit me. My claws extended and my fangs formed. The need washed over my wracked body, the need to feed. I concentrated on pulling myself together and let out a small cry as my claws receded. I lay on my bed, shaking, and listened to the rain drumming on the roof. I panted with exertion. My body was soaked in sweat that had been accumulating all night as I fought to remain in human form. Something was wrong. I knew that much. Shakily, I pulled myself into a sitting position and looked at the clock. Five-thirty. Magnus might be up by now. I slid out of bed and put on some clothes. In the bathroom I looked in the mirror. Haunted eyes stared back at me, feral, mad. I gripped the counter as my claws threatened to make a reappearance. It passed and I removed my sore fingers from the counter. My hair was a mess. I brushed it until it was smooth like normal, and then exited my room, closing the door softly behind me. I padded down the hall and stopped in front of Magnus's office door. I peeked in through the crack, and saw she was typing at the computer. I opened the door and stepped inside. She looked up.

"Tayla, what are you doing up so ear—" her eyes widened. She got up from her chair and hurried toward me. She stuck out her left hand to hold up my chin so she could look into my eyes properly and I jerked away.

"Don't touch me," I said through gritted teeth.

"What? Why?" Magnus asked as she reached out again, "Are you sick?"

"I said don't touch me!"

"Why?" Magnus asked.

"Because then I would have the irresistible urge to suck your blood, and I'm not sure I could resist it this time," I answered seriously. I gripped the edge of the table and my claws slid out halfway and my fangs formed. "I can't control it anymore," I said, "Any moment I could go full vampire mode and suck all of your blood. Every time I resist, it gets harder."

"Okay," Magnus said calmly, "Sit down." Once I had, she asked, "What time did this start happening?"

"12:30 last night," I answered. I tensed as the need washed over me again.

"Is there anything else unusual besides your need to feed and changing uncontrollably?"

"Vision's blurry, smells are out of control," I listed off, "Extra sensitive touch…"

"Let's get you to the infirmary," she said.

"Is there anyone in there?" I asked.

"Umm, yes, a wounded girl, victim of an abnormal attack," Magnus said, looking puzzled.

"Hand-cuff me to you. Otherwise, that girl might not recover from the loss of blood," I said flatly. She fetched a pair of handcuffs and clipped it to my arm and hers. We walked down the hall and up in the elevator to the infirmary. The girl was lying on a bed near the door. She shifted in her sleep, revealing a blood stained bandage over her arm.

"Tayla…" Magnus warned, but what I did next was no action of choice. I pulled my arm out of the handcuff, breaking my end with inhuman strength. I grabbed it and pulled, throwing it at the wall, Magnus along with it. She crashed into a tray of medical supplies, and I turned my attention back to the girl. I unraveled the bandage and lowered my head to drink. I felt an impact from behind, and a sedative coursing through my veins. My back healed instantly, and I turned to face Magnus, who was holding a tranq gun. I growled at her, and she shot again. I crumpled to the floor, and everything went black.

When I awoke, I was strapped to a bed in a windowless cell. Magnus stood over me, the tranq gun loaded and ready just in case on the side table. With no blood in sight, I was myself again. "Magnus," I croaked, "What's happening to me?"

"The Cabal," she answered, "This was the second step in turning you into a vampire. Apparently even without their treatment, once you start, you will go through all the changes eventually."

"Then I can't ever be free again, can I?" I asked.

"Do not give up hope yet. I'm trying to devise a device that will stop this from happening, but I need some information. What about blood makes you want it right now?"

I thought about it. "Smelling it, or hearing it pulse through someone's body."

"Not the sight?" she asked.

"No," I answered. She went over to the computer where a strange looking device was plugged in. She typed in a few commands, and then hit the enter key. She unplugged the device and handed it to me.

"Field test," she said. Holding it made me feel stronger and more in control. She brought a vial filled with a red liquid. Blood. She held it right in front of my nose, and I took a deep whiff. It set my heart pounding, but no more than usual. Blood always had some effect on me, but it used to be easy to ignore. I shook my head no.

"Let me touch you," she said. I stiffened and then nodded my consent. She reached out a tentative hand. As soon as she touched my arm, the sound of her pulse crashed through my body in waves. I strained against the titanium bands strapping me to the bed, and she jerked her hand back. When she was no longer touching me, the order from the vampire part of me to bite her gradually faded.

I found my voice, and said, "It worked on the scent, but not with you touching me."

"Then the chemical blocker I put for that must not have been sufficient. I'm going to increase it by a factor of three." She plugged the device in again and fixed the problem. We tested it again, and this time I wasn't affected by either. As we were finishing, my claws slid out again and my fangs formed. My entire body stiffened with the effort of reverting back, but I couldn't. I started thrashing, and my wrists hit up against the titanium. My claws and fangs receded meekly, and I lay still.

"The device doesn't help with my changing," I said.

"Obviously." Magnus looked contemplative. "The titanium helped, didn't it? You reverted back as soon as you touched it."

"Yes," I agreed, "but I don't want to never be able to change."

"That rules out implanting a piece of titanium surgically," Magnus said. To make sure she was right, I pressed my hand up against the titanium restraints and, sure enough, I couldn't make myself change like usual.

"We need a bracelet or something that I can touch only when I need to," I said.

"Or you can have it on all the time and take it off when you need to. Either way, it would have to be held somewhere that you could touch no matter what the situation," Magnus said.

"What about a spring released watch?" I asked, "With a button I could press with any part of my body?"

"Yes, that would work…" Magnus became contemplative, like she was thinking hard about something. "I think I can make one. You can have Henry help you with a high tech one later, but just a basic one for now."

"Okay," I agreed.

By seven o'clock, she was done. Secured to my arm by an armband was a drastically reduced in size VPFBD—the Vampire Protection From Blood Device. On my wrist was a watch that had its regular back plating replaced with titanium, so that it would be always touching my skin. A small button on the back would release the watch instantly from my arm.

I had forgotten, but today was the day we were going to receive a Tunisian fire elemental from Magnus's friend. Will, Kate, Magnus, and I climbed into a car and drove a block away from the place we were going to meet him. Will, Henry, and Kate went ahead and took their positions, carrying a gun, binoculars, and a radio each. Magnus and I waited in the car for their signal.

"All clear up here," Henry said through the walkie.

"Yeah, same here," Will's voice came through.

"Ditto," Kate said. We took off at a fast walk to the meeting place.

"Copy that, I'm arriving now," Magnus said into her walkie. We turned down an alley filled with trash and a couple of dumpsters covered in graffiti.

"James? It's me, Magnus," she called.

"Over here." A man stood up from behind an old ice machine. He was taller than Magnus and I, with friendly eyes and short cut brown hair. At first sight, I couldn't tell he was an abnormal, even though Magnus said he was. He walked toward us, and next to me Magnus smiled.

"It's good to see you," she said.

"You too, Helen," he said. She hugged him, and he kissed her on the cheek. Then he stepped back to look her over. "I love the hair," he said.

"Thank you. Any problems?"

"No, package is safe and sound; although I'll be very happy to be rid of this one," he said. He pulled up his shirt to reveal his abnormality: a pouch on his stomach. He reached in and pulled out a small container. It was silver, and inside was what looked like fire. "Little warmer than I'm used to."

"That's what you get for transporting a Tunisian fire elemental. I have a cryo-container in the van," Magnus said. We walked to the edge of the alley when I heard Will's voice on the radio.

"Magnus, we got company; two cars headed your way," he said. Magnus ran past us going the other way, presumably looking for another exit. James stuck the elemental back in his pouch and followed.

"I got 'em. Eight scary-looking dudes," Henry spoke to us through the walkie, "They're searching the area.

"The Duke," James said.

"Who?"

"Head of the abnormal mob back in Chicago," James explained. We reached the other end of the alley to see two men on the street.

"Damn," Magnus said. We all took cover by the ice machine. Magnus and James took out guns, and I pulled a stunner out of my jacket. Magnus shook her head at me, and pulled out another real gun for me to use. Technically, by law, I wasn't allowed to use a real gun, just a stunner. But I wasn't going to argue.

"He's the one who hired me to bring him the elemental," James said. We both looked at him.

"You stole this from a mob Boss?" Magnus asked.

"I wasn't about to let it fall into his hands. How did he find us?" James asked.

"You tell me," Magnus said.

"I think your organization sprung a leak," James said.

"No, impossible," Magnus said flatly.

"We would never do that," I said.

Two men walked into our alley. We were concealed behind the ice machine, nut not for long. "Henry, we need a diversion," Magnus whispered into her walkie.

"I'm on it," came Henry's answer. Just then I heard gunfire and the sound of heavy footsteps on the move. The men in our alley turned around and ran to the source of the gunfire.

"This way," said James. He pushed open a door of an abandoned building and stepped inside. It was dark, but I could see and kept us moving without loud crashes. We exited the building into a large loading area.

"Let's go!" Magnus shouted. We ducked behind some crates as the men started to fire on us. I stood up, the position I get best accuracy from, and fired. Bullets hit me, but I healed instantly. Just then I heard a car screeching to a stop behind me and Kate yelling: "Get in!"

"Go!" Magnus told James. He hesitated, looking at her. "Protect the package! Go! Please go!" He fired one last time, and then turned and dived into the open back door of the Sedan. As soon as he touched the seat, Kate sped away. Bullets bounced off the car and broke the back window. I couldn't tell if anyone had been shot, but I hoped not.

Magnus spoke into her walkie. "Henry, Will, Kate's got Jimmy. Meet at the rendezvous."

"Hell yeah. Copy that," Will said into his walkie. He never did like shooting a gun. I watched the car speed off down the road uncontested, and then looked at Magnus. The men begin to disperse into their cars, probably off to report to the Duke. We arrived at the rendezvous first, with Will and Henry jogging up a few minutes later. Kate and James were nowhere to be found.

"Any sign of them?" Will asked when he reached us.

"Not yet," Magnus answered grimly.

"Maybe they got turned around," Henry suggested.

"No, it's been too long," Magnus said. She held her walkie up to her mouth. "Kate, do you read?"

"Maybe she dumped her walkie," Will suggested.

"Try her cell phone," Magnus said.

"Yeah." Will dialed her cell number and the van started ringing. She must have left her cell phone in there.

"I'll call the Big Guy, see if she showed up at the Sanctuary," Henry offered.

"Thank you." Henry walked back to the van a little way away from us.

"Who the hell were those guys?" Will asked.

"Abnormals from Chicago. James stole the elemental from them," Magnus answered.

"Well, that's wonderful," Will said sarcastically.

"The real question is how the hell were they able to track us? We told no one about this meeting."

"Maybe they followed him," Will suggested.

"I've worked with James before; he knows better than to let this happen," Magnus said, and turned as Henry walked up with the cell phone.

"She's not at the Sanctuary either," he said.

"All right, go back and check with our contacts. Find out if anyone's seen them," she said, "and Henry, I want to know how this Duke character found us."

"Alright."

We all got into the van and Magnus started the engine. We cruised down the street, looking for any signs of Kate and James. We dropped Henry off at the Sanctuary, and went back to the place of the fight.

"Let's start from here," Will said. Magnus drove slowly on the street, all of us looking desperately for them.

"It was a beat-up gray Sedan. They shot out a couple of the windows," Magnus reminded us as she drove.

"If she was headed straight to the rendezvous, she would've turned left at the first opportunity," Will said.

"Unless she was going to the Sanctuary, in which case she would've kept going straight," Magnus countered.

"Why were they shooting at him anyway? Seems like a dangerous way to bring in an abnormal," Will said.

"Well, it's the container they're after. He doesn't have to be alive for them to collect it," Magnus said. We were interrupted by Magnus's walkie.

"Magnus, come in," said Henry.

"How's it going, Henry?" she asked.

"Yeah, I put the word out about Kate, but nothing's come back yet; Big Guy's checking to see if anything got caught on surveillance videos."

"What about the system scan?"

"Yeah, still processing. But in the meantime, I did some research into this abnormal mob; turns out their leader's a Diukon."

"What's a Diukon?" Will and I asked together.

"Highly aggressive humanoid offshoot; they suffer from uncontrollable bouts of rage so powerful they literally can't contain it," Magnus answered.

"What do you mean, they can't contain it?" Will asked.

"Diukons have special glands in their hands that secrete radiation when they get angry. If they grab hold of you, it's very unpleasant."

"Just unpleasant? Or like…agony?" I asked.

"Yeah, they cook you from the inside out like a microwave...or so I've heard," Henry said.

"Henry, how is it possible that a Diukon is leading a street gang? There's no known suppressant for their anger," Magnus spoke into the walkie again.

"Yeah, I have no idea, but somebody's giving this guy some serious happy pills. According to this, six months ago he was pit-fighting other abnormals for cash; now he's the Boss," Henry answered.

Ten minutes, later, we had gone up and down the street a couple times, so Magnus pulled over against the curb.

"Want to continue on foot?" Will asked.

"Well, if what you say is true, and Kate really has gone into hiding, we'll never find her from the car," Magnus answered.

"Okay, any particular direction you have an affinity for?"

"You go east, I'll go west. Proceed one block at a time; stay in radio contact," Magnus instructed him, "Tayla, you're with me. See if you can hear them or smell the blood if they're hurt."

"Alright," Will said.

"Okay, on it," I replied. I took a deep sniff of air. Magnus and I started walking west, calling Kate's name and listening. We kept walking and investigating odd hiding places and abandoned buildings. We found homeless guys, stray cats, heaps of garbage, cooking utensils, and even an uneaten donut, but no trace of Kate and James. Magnus's cell phone rang.

"Go ahead, Henry," she said.

"Destroy your walkie right now," he said seriously. We both dropped our walkies and stepped on them, breaking the antennae off.

"Now, tell me why I just did that," Magnus said into the phone.

"We got hit with a remote hack. They're using our radio frequencies to track us. Where's Will?"

"He's not with me," Magnus answered, eyes widening.

"He's not answering his cell," Henry said. Magnus shut off the phone and pulled out a gun.

"Dammit!" she said as she turned. I still had my gun, and we ran back the way we had come, calling Will's name. I spotted something lying on the ground before Magnus did.

"Will!" she called.

"Magnus…" I pointed at Will's walkie, which was lying on the ground. Magnus called Henry to let him know what had happened.

"I'm sorry, Doc," he said.

"It's all right. You had no way of knowing," Magnus said.

"Whoever did this is sophisticated; I'm going to have to re-encrypt all the com frequencies," Henry told us.

"Understood, I'll see you soon," Magnus said. We walked back to where the car was waiting and got in. We arrived at the Sanctuary five minutes later and went to see Henry. Henry's voice emanated from his lab: "There, the com system's clean." The Big Guy was standing by him.

"Magnus?" the Big Guy grunted.

"Any word on Will?" she asked.

"We tried to track his cell, but they must have ditched it. What are we going to do?" Henry answered.

"Well, we have no choice but to continue looking for James," she replied. We all looked at her, and the Big Guy made dissatisfied noises.

"We have no leverage at the moment, which is why we need to find him before they do. Besides, the canister he's carrying has to come out soon or..." she stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"Of course! Henry, thermo graphic scanners. We use them to detect the canister."

"I thought his pouch was shielded to prevent that kind of detection," Henry said. I nodded, and then looked back at Magnus with an eyebrow raised.

"It is, but after prolonged exposure, even a sealed chamber succumbs to the effects of radiant heat. See if you can calibrate our scanners to pick it up," she explained.

"Yeah, all right, I'm on it. See you at the van in five?" he asked.

"Actually, you go ahead," she said. The Big Guy turned back.

"Why? What are you going to do?" he grunted.

"Stall," Magnus answered. After they left, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed a number I didn't know. The phone started to ring, and she put it on speaker phone. She spoke into it angrily. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear: If you have touched so much as one hair on Will Zimmerman's head, there is not enough real estate on this Earth to keep you safe from me."

"Dr. Magnus. That's awfully tough talk for someone in your position," the Diukon said.

"Is it? I guess you haven't heard." I frowned, wondering where she was going on this.

"Heard what?" There was an edge to the Duke's voice now.

"I have Jimmy," Magnus answered.

"You're lying," he said.

"My team just picked him up moments ago. They're on their way back here as we speak," she said.

"They have cell phones, don't they? Put him on the phone. Let me talk to him." I froze, expecting Magnus to end the call, but it didn't even faze her.

"He's been injured; he's in no condition to talk. I will call you once he's stable. Until then, get your men off my streets and keep your hands off my people!" she hit the end button on the phone. I looked at her, impressed. Just then, Magnus's cell phone rang. The Caller ID was Henry.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Are you doing anything major with the system right now?"

"No. Why?"

"Something's wrong. It's moving too slow. Oh, man. Oh, no, no, no! I don't believe this!"

"What?"

"They embedded a sleeper worm that could only be activated in the event I re-encrypted the com frequencies. They knew that we would discover the first virus; they had a back-up plan in place."

"Wait a minute; they're monitoring our system right now?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm on my way; I'll take care of it when I get back."

"Uh, no."

"No?"

"If they're so interested in what we're up to, I say let them see." She smiled, and sat in Henry's chair at the computer. She pulled up a blank intake file, and started filling it out with James' information. She uploaded it to the system just as Henry came in. Just then the Incoming Video Call message bubble came up. Henry crossed the room to stand over Magnus's shoulder.

"It's the Duke. You think he bought it?" he asked.

"Let's hope so," Magnus answered. She hit a key and the guy I assume was the Diukon appeared on screen.

"I thought I told you to wait for my call," Magnus said.

"I've waited long enough. Besides, your friend isn't doing too good," he answered. He went over to Will, who was being supported by two thugs.

"I've transmitted my location; if you have Jimmy like you say you do, you have 30 minutes to deliver him to me, otherwise..." he jerked Will's head up by his hair, "pretty boy dies."

"What the hell are we going to do?" Henry moaned.

"Did you notice that device he was wearing on his temple?" Magnus asked.

I nodded, and Henry said, "Yeah, what was that?"

"It looked like some sort of electrode," Magnus said, as if that cleared everything up.

"Okay…" Henry said.

"So he's a Diukon, remember?"

"Oh, you think that's what's suppressing his anger?" Henry said.

"It makes sense. A device that taps directly into the limbic system would have the desired effect of keeping his aggression in check."

"All right, that's all great, but how does that help us?" Henry asked.

"Diukon's brain chemistry is vastly different than that of a human. If indeed his rage center has been suppressed, it's likely that other parts of his brain are open to manipulation," Magnus explained.

"What other parts?"

"The visual cortex, for one. Come on, I have an idea." She strode out of the lab. We ran down to the main lab, and she stopped in front of Sally's tank. She pulled up a portable computer and a picture of James.

"She can download the image directly into the Diukon's visual cortex," she explained.

"So he'll see something that isn't really there?" I asked.

"Exactly. Henry, you finish this. We have to get going. And tell the Big Guy what's going on."

"Okay Doc."

We ran for the car. We had had only 30 minutes, and now only ten. Magnus drove to the Duke's location, and said, "Okay, here we go."

She called Henry, and asked, "Ready?"

"Go get 'em, Doc," Henry answered. We entered the building, and two well dressed guys came and escorted us in. Will was still being held up by thugs in the corner, and the Diukon was waiting for us.

"Where's Jimmy?" he asked gruffly.

"I wanted to make certain Will was still alive," Magnus answered smoothly.

"Now you are. Where's Jimmy?" the Diukon asked again.

"I don't take kindly to strangers coming into my town making bull-headed demands. You'll get James once you've released Will. You've got me now; you don't need both of us."

"Magnus…" Will's voice came from the corner.

"This is not a negotiation. I was prepared to cut you some slack because of your considerable reputation, but now you're just trying my patience," the Duke said. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Will's head. "So one last time…where's Jimmy?"

"Fair enough." Magnus and I started moving toward the door.

"Easy," the Diukon said, "Easy…" he trained his gun on us instead. We paused. She reached out to open the door.

"Magnus don't do it!" Will shouted. She pulled open the door to reveal an empty hallway. I looked back at the Duke, who was transfixed by something only he could see.

"Jimmy...well, now, you've given me some grief over the last few days, now, haven't you?" he asked. Will looked at between us, Duke, and the empty hallway in confusion.

"Are we square?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, yeah, get out of here," he answered without so much as glancing at her.

The thugs holding Will frowned and one of them ventured to say, "Boss, what are you…?"

"Let him go," the Diukon said. They released Will, and we run out the room. Behind us, I can hear the Diukon: "Come on, let me see the container."

"Since when did you turn into David Blaine?" Will asked Magnus.

"Just keep moving," she replied.

Using my vampire hearing, I could still hear the Duke talking to James. "What the hell is wrong with you? I said, let me see it!"

One of the other men said, "Duke, there's no one there."

Another said, "Who you talking to?" I knew it wouldn't be long before our ruse was discovered.

"Let me see the container. Now!" the Duke yelled.

"No! Stop them!" the Diukon told his men.

"Run!" I shouted to Magnus and Will. Even though I was the fastest, I fell behind them because Duke could shoot me as many times as he wanted and I would still walk away unharmed. They started firing and Magnus and Will stopped so suddenly I almost crashed into them.

"I suppose that was you idea of a joke!" the Duke yelled angrily. Just then Henry's van screeched to a stop at our side. James stepped out, holding his gun.

"Stop! You're looking for me?" he asked, looking directly at Duke.

"Jimmy," the Diukon said.

"Duke…let them go. I'll come quietly, but you've got to release them first."

"How do I know you have the container?"

James lifted his shirt to reveal his pouch. "Why don't you reach in and see for yourself?"

The Duke lowered his gun. "Okay. Well, it looks like we have a deal after all."

"James, you don't have to do this," Magnus said.

"Yes, I do," James replied, and looked at Kate, "I'm sorry; it's all I can say." Kate looked like she had been crying recently. She looked away. "You go. Hurry."

I used my ears to hear what was happening in Duke's car.

"Jimmy…" Duke was saying.

"Duke," was James' reply.

"Glad you finally came to your senses."

"Me too."

"Let's see the goods."

My listening was interrupted by Magnus. "What is this doing here?" she asked. In front of her, on top of a case, was the Tunisian fire elemental.

"I don't know," Kate replied. Magnus unlatched the case. Inside were three sets of explosives. One was missing.

"Oh no…" Magnus said.

Inside the car, James said, "Here you go." We turned in time to see the car explode from the inside.

**~~o0o~~**

Magnus, Will, and I were walking down the hall together, discussing Sally and the Diukon.

Magnus was saying, "I was fairly certain that if Henry were able to boost Sally's telepathic signal, she could tap directly into the Duke's visual cortex."

"And see something that wasn't really there," Will said.

"Exactly, that's why I'm glad we had a fairly recent photo of James for her to focus on."

"Yeah, about James…I'm sorry." We all stopped to face each other.

"He did what he felt he had to do. He'd been living with the guilt for so many years; I suspect it was a relief." Magnus said.

"Yeah. Well, I'm off to see Sally. Hey, what kind of thank-you gift do you get for a mermaid?"

"She really likes it if you swim with her," Magnus said.

"Huh…I'll get my suit," Will said and he stated to walk away.

"No suit," Magnus added, smiling. We turned and walked down the hallway.

"So how are your devices working?" she asked me.

"Fine," I answered, "Perfectly, actually."

"Good," she replied, "I told Henry you wanted to design a watch with him. He's waiting for you in his lab."

"Okay, thanks," I said. I smiled, and then turned and ran towards Henry's lab. I had so many plans for that watch.


	7. Sleepers: More Nikola's? Oh No

The search was not going well. Magnus and I had worked together for weeks trying to find the other vampires with no luck. We were pretty sure none of them were past my stage when they escaped, meaning they couldn't teleport. Even without teleportation, they were eluding capture very well. By now, they were probably spread all over the globe. Most were older than me, so they could drive. There was only one who couldn't: Danaka Cabalus. She was only seven years old. The thought of the Cabal using young adults for their experiments made them despicable, but using a child made them horrendous. Many times I had lain awake at night imagining being seven when I was taken. The poor child must have been scared out of her wits, and now that she was on her own, wandering the cruel world… All sorts of bad things could happen to her. Magnus jerked me from my reverie.

"I think we've been going about this all wrong. If you were on the same stage as them, they should be afflicted by the same things you were a week ago," Magnus said. I fingered my watch. "And if we have no leads, instead of blindly searching, we should be trying to find out more about your family's connection to the Source Blood," Magnus added. She murmured an instruction to Henry, telling him to search for the effects of vampire bloodlust on the population.

"Well, we know my uncle helped you obtain the Source Blood in the first place," I offered.

"Yes, but what connection does your dad have with the Cabal?" Magnus mused.

"He went missing when I was six. I don't know anything about him," I said flatly.

"Tayla. Maybe he didn't leave you and your mother by choice. Maybe the Cabal kidnapped him like they did you."

"Why would they?"

"For information. Experiments. It's the Cabal. The possibilities are endless."

"Then it's possible he's still alive," I said.

"Doc? I found something," Henry's voice came over the intercom.

We looked at each other, the same hope in our eyes. The hope that he found had the location of a safe, unharmed vampire. We turned and walked down the hall and then down the stairs to Henry's lab. We arrived and Henry was standing by the printer. A sheet of word-filled paper came to rest in the slot. Henry handed it to Magnus.

"Well, this confirms it," Magnus said.

"Confirms what?" I asked.

"Your dad did leave you by choice, and he's dead," Magnus said, looking at me carefully. My heart dropped in my chest. My dad had left me for the Cabal. My dad was evil. All these years I had been supporting the fantasy that he hadn't wanted to leave and would be back. Now I knew that wasn't true.

"Wait Tayla…there's something you don't understand," Magnus said as I turned to leave, "He did leave you by choice, but not because he believed in the Cabal's vision. He joined to make money to support you and your mom. It says here he was promised enough to send your mom back to college to get her degree and for you to go through college too. He loved you."

I stopped and turned to face her. "He did it…for me?"

"Yes," Magnus said gently. I stood still for a moment, processing the information, revising my image of my father. Magnus left, saying she had urgent matters to attend to, and I wasn't ready to think about this yet. I wanted to change the subject.

"So how was surfing in Tasmania?" I asked Henry.

"It was really, fun, yeah," Henry answered, looking at me strangely.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"No, seriously, what?"

"Nothing!"

"Henry…."

"Oh all right, fine! Did you and Kate paste pictures of Jacob, the werewolf from Twilight all over my room while I was gone?" I nearly fell over laughing. In light of recent discoveries, I had totally forgotten Kate's prank. "Cuz' I'm a HAP not a werewolf," Henry said indignantly. I just rolled my eyes. "It was Kate's idea. I just kept my mouth shut," I explained.

"Would you also know how she stuck them to my wall?" Henry asked.

"Oh! Yes, I would. Secretion of a rare orange slug in Africa," I answered him brightly, knowing the best part was coming.

"And would you know how to get it off? I've tried everything."

"You can't." I burst out laughing again.

"Can't what?" asked Henry, not getting it.

"Get it off," I answered, laughing harder at the look on his face.

"You know I hate Jacob! How could you Tayla?" Henry shook his head and typed a few more commands into the computer. "I have to go now, see you in a few days."

"Bye," I said.

Two days later, I was in Henry's lab again, and Magnus was saying, "Will, we have to go now. They'll be taking the bodies away any moment."

"Okay," Will nodded, "I've already started a facial recognition scan of the car crash victim." He motioned to a picture on his desk of the victim.

When the scan was done I looked at the results. It had found security camera footage with the guy in it.

"Isn't that guy supposed to be dead?" I muttered to myself, staring at the video. I watched as he strangled another guy and stuffed him in his trunk.

"That is seriously messed up," I thought out loud. Just then Will came back and I showed him the video. He sent the link to Magnus through an email, and we went out to meet her. We found her in her office.

"Hey, did you get that link I emailed you of the security camera footage of that parking lot in New City?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I just finished watching it. Is the killer who I think it is?" Magnus asked.

"Well, Henry's facial recognition software caught a hit, and I pulled a frame from the video," Will said. He showed her another picture.

"Huh…Chad Spencer, our missing car-crash victim. 24 years old and clearly very much alive. He's a trust-fund baby on his fourth Ivy league tour."

"Ah...Who walks away from a crash like that? Actually, what am I saying? We know a lot of people who walk away from a crash like that," Will said, smiling in spite of himself.

"The question is, why hasn't he been in touch with his family or any of his friends?"

"He has," Will answered her, handing her another picture, "This is Darrin Wilson, the other guy in the footage. Reported missing two days ago. Darrin is Chad's roommate."

"From another wealthy family, and yet it's not a kidnapping scheme. There've been no ransom demands," Magnus said.

"Okay, so what've we got? We got a dead man. Walks away from a crash, becomes homicidal."

"Run the data again. There's obviously a common denominator we're overlooking. See if anyone else has disappeared," Magnus told him.

"Yeah," Will turned to leave and then stopped and faced us again. "Hey, you know, this would be a lot easier with Henry's help."

"He's unavailable," Magnus said.

"Why again?" Will asked.

"He's on a mission of utmost importance. I was sworn to absolute secrecy," Magnus said after a moment of hesitation.

"Wait a second. San Diego Comic-Con? That's the mission of utmost importance?" Will asked incredulously.

"You did not hear it from me," Magnus said, smiling slightly.

"Where's the Big Guy?" Magnus shook her head. "He's with him?"

"It's one of the few places he actually blends in," Magnus explained.

"Okay, great, so they're fan boys. I'm working with fan boys..." Will said. I laughed.

**~~o0o~~**

I was walking with Magnus, Will, and Kate. Will was explaining how all three (there were three missing kids now) recently visited Mexico.

"So they checked into a drug clinic, very expensive, very exclusive," Will continued.

"Headed by the noted Viennese scientist doctor Heinrich Baumschlager. Never heard of him," Magnus said, flipping through the files.

"Well, the place is called La Casa de la Nueva Vida," Will said. I quickly translated that in my head, but Magnus was faster.

"Ah, the House of New Life, and it appears to be living up to its name," Magnus commented. "Well, it looks like we're going to Mexico."

Once we were finally inside the clinic, a nurse greeted us and told us that Dr. Baumschlager would see us any moment.

"Thank you. Gracias," Will replied. Magnus walked casually up to an exotic looking plant. She rubbed the leaf between her fingers.

"Plastic," she said.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to sit through a timeshare pitch?" Will asked.

"Because there's something a tad dodgy about all of this," Magnus answered, looking around.

"Yeah, well, the crash forensics came up zilch. Right now we have nothing. None of this makes any sense."

"El doctor will see you now," the nurse came back.

Magnus turned around. "On the contrary, now it makes perfect sense," she said, pointing. The figure approaching, Dr. Baumschlager, was someone we knew. Nikola Tesla.

"Hola amigos!" He called out to us. Magnus bit her lip, and exchanged a look with Will and me. We walked through a long extensive tour of the place, consisting of various fancy sounding rooms and more fake plants. I kept expected Magnus to interrupt him, but she waited a long time.

"And right over here, we have our friendship lanai. It's a small, intimate space for sharing…" Nikola said, smiling.

"Nikola, we're not here for the tour," Magnus said finally.

"I notice you do seem a bit on edge. Might I suggest one of our green-tea detox massages? It makes you feel 100 again," he said silkily.

"We know what's going on here!" Magnus said with a quiet anger.

"And I don't like the tone of your voice," Nikola said.

"And we don't like being lied to, so…" Will said.

"Why are you people always so ready to think the worst of me? You've seen my facilities for yourself," he asked.

I rolled my eyes as Magnus stated my thoughts, "You don't honestly expect us to believe that you are running a detox clinic."

"Yeah, you're, uh, you're not exactly the philanthropic type," Will added.

"I never said I wasn't making a profit, but in return, I provide a public service," Nikola said.

"I'm waiting," Magnus said, fixing him with her piercing gaze.

"Wealthy parents ship their drug-addled teenagers to me. They arrive, their poor little bodies wracked by the best designer drugs trust funds can buy. It breaks your heart, but then after one week of my treatment, I send them home to mater and pater completely cured of all addictions," Nikola said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, one week? That's impossible!" Will said.

"What part of 'I'm a genius' aren't you getting?" Nikola asked.

"Less ego, more facts, please," Magnus said, causing Will to smile.

"Alright. Do you remember that weapon I invented to combat the Cabal's super abnormals?"

"Yes, all too well."

He pointed to Will. "This may go over your head. Just try to play along," he turned back to Magnus, "Suffice it to say, I redesigned the biotechnology core, creating a blood matrix scrubber with selective protein inhibitors—"

"Enough! Whatever you've done to these young people, Nikola, they're disappearing!"

Surprised, Nikola said, "As in…"

"Something's killing them and stealing their bodies."

"You don't say," Nikola said, mildly shocked.

"Come on, out with it. I want to hear you say the words." I felt like I already knew what he was going to say.

"All right. I…I may have…sort of…"

"Spill it, Nikola," Magnus said, her voice dangerously soft.

Nikola grinned. "Turned them into vampires. Admittedly, I was too impatient with my previous experiments. They were... imperfect."

"They were homicidal," Magnus countered exasperatedly.  
>"Semantics. This time it's different."<br>"How? You would still have had to use your own blood."

"Yes, but I programmed the little tykes' DNA for a time release of the vampire gene…30

years minimum for the metamorphosis to complete."

"Time release? We're talking about ancient vampire blood here. It's not cold medication," Will said.

"Same principle, junior. I thought that if I slowed down the genetic mutation, I'd sidestep the antibody rejection which was plaguing my former subjects."

"Well, clearly, something went wrong," Magnus said.

"Clearly."

"How many subjects did you treat here?" Magnus asked. Nikola looked at her, half proud and half worried.

"Enough to make a little hell. I don't know. I don't get it. I adhered to all the protocols. Have a look for yourself." Nikola handed Magnus his laptop.

"And yet the incubation period was drastically truncated."

"Instant vampires," Will said.

"So maybe there's some sort of environmental variable I didn't take into account."

"What, like weather, or diet, lifestyle?" Will asked.

"Death," said Magnus suddenly. I realized she was right.

"Death?" Nikola asked surprised.

"Death would be the last thing that an immortal would think of," Magnus said.

"This first kid died in a car accident," Nikola said, piecing it together.  
>"And then showed up two days later, alive," Will continued.<p>

"Chad Spencer."

"Yes, I remember him. Alpha-male type," Nikola said.

"If a human, having under gone your treatment, dies..." Magnus began.  
>"The vampire gene would kick in. It was programmed to survive at all costs."<br>"Okay, so Chad comes back to life and starts rounding up the other patients," Will said.  
>"And killing them, thereby triggering their vampire genetics," Magnus said.<p>

Nikola slammed the lid to his laptop shut. "The little bastard. This was supposed to be my

party! Nobody hijacks Nikola Tesla!"

**~~o0o~~**

Ten minutes later, we were in the parking lot of La Casa de la Nueva Vida. Magnus was talking to Kate on her cell phone, and we were all listening in.

"Hey there," Magnus said.  
>"How are things in the land of the 65-cent Margarita?" Kate asked.<br>"Well, the phrase 'bloody awful' comes to mind. We're on our way back. In the

meantime, I've emailed you a list of patients who spent time at the clinic. Find out all you can about them."

"Okay. Am I looking for anything in particular?"

"Vampires."

"Come again?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. It seems Nikola's been up to his usual selfish tricks."

"Oh. Oh, I'm selfish?" Nikola asked.

Magnus looked at him. "Shocking, I know."

"Because I tried to save my race from extinction?"  
>"Because you used innocent children in a potentially deadly experiment."<p>

"There was that," Will said, glancing at Nikola.

"Professional jealousy."  
>"You've no idea what you've unleashed!" she yelled. We all stopped as three figures<p>

approached us. I recognized Chad, Darrin, and the other missing girl Laura. "Ah, let me guess. This must be your graduating class," Magnus said.

Nikola approached Chad. "Incredible…it worked."

"You're coming with us," said Chad.

"But you didn't even say please," Nikola said as he extended his claws. He stepped aside, leaving us to fend for ourselves. The vampires approached, and I slid out my own claws. They all attacked, leaving me as the only viable defense against them. They would just heal against bullets. Two ran at me and I scratched my claws down their arm, but it healed immediately. I needed to keep my claws embedded in their flesh so they couldn't heal to do any real damage. That was a problem because if I waited for one to die, I would be attacked by the other. Nikola stood on the side lines watching Magnus grapple with another vampire.

"Nikola, what the hell are you doing?" Magnus yelled.

"Crude, yet magnificent," Nikola muttered, looking proudly at his vampires. Just then a car slammed into Nikola, knocking him down. The vampires ran for him and loaded him in the car. Magnus shot the girl Laura, but the rest got away. The car zoomed off, leaving us with one vampire, and no Nikola.

"Damn it!" Magnus swore.

We made it back to the Sanctuary in one piece and secured Laura in a cell.

"Should counteract the sedative we gave her during transport," Magnus said.  
>"Yeah, just tell me the straps are going to hold," Will said.<p>

"Titanium webbing, vampire-proof," Magnus said, "Tayla can attest to that." I nodded as Laura started to wake up.

"Hmm, rise and shine," Kate said.

"Where am I?" Laura asked.

"I'll be asking the questions now," Magnus said.

"And who the hell are you?" Laura spat out angrily.  
>"Where have your friends taken Nikola? Dr. Baumschlager?" she corrected herself.<p>

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Laura answered insolently.

"I don't have time to play games," Magnus warned.  
>"You know, Chad's not going to be cool with this. If he finds out where you're holding<p>

me, he's going to whip some serious vamp action on your ass."

"You have no idea what you've become. Insolence will only make things worse."

"Yeah? Why don't you bite me, bitch?" Laura asked, obviously trying to provoke Magnus.

"Why don't you go get an earl grey and let me take a shot?" Will asked. Magnus left, slamming the door behind her.

"Hey, cute boy," Laura said, smiling at Will.

"Look, Laura, you know that we're only trying to help you, right?" Will said.  
>"Mmm, blah, blah, blah…Who's your cute little friend in the thrift-store wardrobe?"<p>

Kate stepped forward and raised her gun angrily, and my claws slid out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're cool, right? Right? I mean, look, I get it. You were brought to that clinic under false pretences, and you were experimented on without your consent…"

"I checked in a meth-head. I checked out a vampire," she grinned, "Bonus."

"Look, if you tell us where the others have taken Tesla, we might be able to reverse the process."

"That's your pitch?"

"Yeah."  
>"Rat out up my friends, I get to go back to being an addict? I'm not telling you anything,<p>

and you can't make me.

"Okay. Well, have it your way. Kill her."

Kate smiled, "About time."  
>"What are you going to do, shoot me? I'll just heal again. I'm immortal."<br>"If this gun was loaded with regular bullets, you'd be right," Kate told her as she pulled

out a bullet, "but these, sweetheart, are solid silver, blessed by a priest with holy water from the Vatican."

"Yeah, only us sanctified monster hunters get 'em. It's…"  
>"I pump just one of these babies into your heart," Kate began as Laura gave her a fearful<p>

look, "And wham!" Laura whimpered.

Two minutes later, we went to see Magnus.

"We found out where they're holding Tesla," Will said brightly.

"Oh, good. So the psychological approach worked?" Magnus asked.

"I had my doubts."

Kate put her arm on Will's shoulder. "But, hey, result," she said.

"Yeah. Uh, did you find anything interesting in Laura's blood?" Will asked.

"Perhaps," Magnus answered, "Her mutated DNA shows a triple helix."

"Translation, please?" Kate said, looking at us.  
>"Well, if I can find a way to break the peptide bond, I might be able to detach the third<p>

strand and undo Nikola's handiwork," Magnus explained.

"Tesla said he used the biotech developed for the super abnormal weapon. You think we can adapt it in some way?" Will suggested.

"Without Nikola's research, I'd be flying blind. We can't take that risk."  
>"But you may be able to reverse the process."<br>Magnus frowned. " 'May' being the operative word. Nikola's really done it this time. His

creations are better, stronger, even deadlier than he is. Conventional means of control are no longer sufficient."

"What if we can't put the genie back in the bottle?" Kate asked.

"These people know what they are, and now they have Nikola."  
>"Wait, you think they're going to start pumping out vampires?" Will asked, horror<p>

suffusing his features.

"I do, and unless we find a way to stop them immediately, we could be looking at a full resurrection of the deadliest race of abnormals ever to roam the Earth. I know how Nikola thinks. He would never create something that he couldn't destroy, or at the very least, control.

"So you're saying there's a fail-safe somewhere?"  
>"Like a kill-switch that'll un-vamp the vamps?"<p>

"It makes sense. He'd never let his work get compromised."

"Right, but what is it?"

"And where is it?"  
>"Didn't Tesla say the timeline for the vampires was, like, 30 years or something?"<br>"So he'd have to have hidden it somewhere that he could be certain would still be around

then."

"Right, someplace solid, secure, like a…a bank."

"Or a vault."

"A Sanctuary," Magnus said. On Magnus's hunch, we all trooped down to the library to look at some of Nikola's favorite books.

**~~o0o~~**

"Dammit, that was the last Borges, and I was positive. Nikola so loves Borge's _A New Refutation of Time_."

"Hey, what about Trollope?" Will asked.

"No, it's not his taste. Try Whitman. He went through a free-verse phase for a while."

Kate threw a book on top of a growing pile.

"So that's Curie, Einstein, and Hawking down," she said.

"Nothing?"

"No. No hollowed-out compartments, no hidden failsafe schematics, just a bunch of wine

stains on the first editions. Looks like fang-boy's a real slob," she said. Magnus, Will and I all looked at each other and tossed away our books. We took off for the wine cellar. "Hey!" called Kate as she ran after us. I got there first with my vampire speed and immediately started searching bottles.

"Not to be a Debbie Downer, but isn't this one hell of a long shot?" Kate asked when she reached us.

"And the alternative?" Magnus asked.

"I don't know."

"Exactly. Keep looking."

"Hey...Over here," Will said, holding out a bottle.

"What did you find? "

"It's what I didn't find. Dust. Squeaky clean."

"The '45 Bordeaux. Bastard. That was a gift from Winston," she said, mildly annoyed. Kate, Will, and I exchanged puzzled looks. Magnus noticed and explained, "Churchill. D-day. Long story."

"Either that's a lot of sediment, or…" Will said. Magnus broke the bottle and pulled out a strange looking glass stick.

"Yeah, baby," Kate said.

"Great. What is it?"

"Must be some kind of weapon, knowing Nikola," Magnus answered.

"So how do we figure out how to use it?" Kate asked.

"Well, that's quite simple. We ask the inventor."

An hour later, we were all suited up, waiting in a car outside Nikola's location.

" You call this a plan? Whatever happened to the good old stake through the heart?" Kate asked.

"Doesn't work."

"What about all those movies like Buffy?"

"Misinformation propaganda spread by the vampires themselves. Confuse the enemy, preserve the race," Magnus explained.

"What about exposing them to sunlight or garlic?"

"All you get is tanned vampires with bad breath," Will said.

"Besides, we don't want to kill them. We want to help them," Magnus said.

"No, I'm thinking kill them," Kate said.

"Yeah. Trust-fund vampires? I'm thinking she's right."

"Granted, but it wasn't their choice. They may be rich, spoiled, insolent children, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't save them," she paused and then said, "That's a terrible sales pitch."

"Yeah. So it's just us against a bunch of badass blood-sucking immortals, huh? Well, it's a good thing we have our magic glass stick that we don't know how to use. Otherwise, I would be worried." Kate said sarcastically.

"All right," Will said. We got out of the car. Will snuck in the building while Magnus, Kate, and I climbed to the top of the building. Well, actually, they climbed. I jumped. It's a vampire thing. Anyway, when we all reached the top Kate asked,

"You ever done this move before?"

"Are you kidding? I invented it," Magnus replied. She jumped off the side, at the last second grabbing the rail and flipping under, into the building. Kate did the same, and them they split up. I waited on the top of the building, concentrating on what was happening inside. I heard scuffles and the sounds of Magnus, Will, and Kate being put in a closet at Nikola's direction. Then I heard Nikola talking to them.

"What is it with kids these days? All right, where is it? My failsafe? The '45 Bordeaux, tell me you brought it."

"You were taking an awful chance that we'd actually find it."  
>"Yes, but, Helen, we've known each other for 100-plus years. I think I know your mind<p>

by now."

"Left side," Magnus said resignedly.

"I've often wondered what this moment would be like. Me…you tied up. It's a shame you brought the children."

"Focus, Nikola."

"Ah…"

"Okay, so what is that thing?"

"I call it...The De-Vamper!"  
>"You're a genius, and that is the best name you could come up with?"<p>

"Watch it."

"If this is some sort of weapon, what's its power source?"

"You're looking at him."

"Fascinating. Now untie us."  
>"No, you're safer tied up here."<p>

"What are you going to do?"  
>"I'm going to teach those kids some manners," Nikola replied.<p>

"Oh, dear. I think Nikola's about to bite off more than he can chew."

"Oh, this is driving me nuts. Okay, look, why don't you, uh, why don't you try to reach..."

"D... don't," Kate said.

"Just reach down..." Will said.

"No," Kate said.

"Can you... can you feel it?" I heard two crashes, and I imagined Will and Kate falling over. "Oh, crap. Magnus..."

"I'm trying."

"Faster is better."

"Ah…Ah, yes."

"Hey, well done."

"So, any time," Kate prompted.

"Right." I heard movement in the room. I flipped down into the place where Nikola was fighting the other vampires, and slashed one across the arm. I made my way to the closet, which Magnus burst out of. She pulled out a gun and shot Chad.

"Unnecessary, but appreciated," Nikola said.

"You're welcome," Magnus replied. Nikola successfully used the De-Vamper on another vampire, leaving only Chad and Darrin. Magnus and I threw Darrin over to Nikola, who de-vamped him as well. Just then Chad entered the room holding Kate.

"Hey! Toss it over or I'll kill her," he shouted at Nikola.

"Oh, not that old Chestnut," Nikola muttered.

"Put it down," Chad ordered, dead serious.

"Trust me, son, this will all end in tears."

"Do it!" Chad shouted.

"Helen, I'm famished. Do you think you could light the barbecue?" Nikola asked.

"Doubtful. They're only tranqs."

"Pity. Perhaps I could help?"

"How very gracious of you," she said as she lowered her weapon and hit the light switch.

"Magnus, shoot him!" Kate yelled.

"Shut up. Listen to me. I'll slice her, man," Chad threatened.  
>"Hey, hey, hey, Chad, my man, my bro. We can work this out. It's not too late to hit<p>

rewind."

"Don't mess with me."

"I'm sensing there's some anger here."

"So…We were going to rule the world together, huh?"

"See, the thing is, I'm more of a one-man show."

"So this was all some sort of set-up, huh?"

"Well, what can I say? Never trust anyone over 130. Helen..."

"Yeah." Nikola jumped and pulled the lamp from the ceiling. He threw it at the chimney. Flames burst out and Chad is knocked down. Nikola jumps over him and stuck the De-Vamper in his heart. I watched, transfixed, as Chad pulled Nikola into the De-Vamper as well. It powered off when Chad was human once more. Nikola stood over him, hand outstretched. I knew what he's trying to do.

"I…I can't…I can't…"

"Nikola," Magnus said.  
>"I can't... Well, I hope you're all happy now. I'm ordinary." That made me the last<p>

vampire in the Sanctuary.

That night was hectic. Magnus had been working in the lab trying to combine Laura's vampire DNA with Nikola's human DNA to make him a vampire again since we got back, but his cells were rejecting it. I had even given her my own blood to try with, but he needed the true ancient untainted vampire blood. Magnus and I were sitting in the lounge with a bottle of wine ready to break the news to him.

"So?" Magnus asked when he came in.

"Yes, it's done. Laura is back to her sniveling, spoiled self." He threw himself onto the couch next to Magnus. She lifted the bottle of wine and said, "This may cheer you up."

"Oh, the Premier Cru? You must be feeling guilty."

"You can't seriously blame me for this?"

"Forgive me, Helen. It's just my soul-crushing depression talking. I'm not myself."

"On the contrary. You are your real self again. Human. Mortal."

"Watch your language."

"I'm sorry, Nikola, but it's true. I've tried everything I can think of. There's simply no way to re-vamp you."

"You see how this puts a crimp in my plans for world domination? Not to say I won't keep trying."

"I would expect nothing less."

"Very well. If this is to be a wake, then let's do it properly," Nikola said as he raised his

glass, "Join me in a toast." Magnus raised her glass as well, and I lifted my animal plasma drink since I was too young to drink wine.

"To happier times. To those halcyon days of bloodlust now gone, plus you gotta admit, vampires are just plain cool," Nikola said. I refrained from mentioning my days of vampire bloodlust weren't over.

"Amen," Magnus said.

"Here's to the glorious vampire race, once mighty, now extinct."

"What, Cabal-made vampires don't count?" I asked, unable to stop myself. Magnus gave me a warning look, telling me I had almost revealed the secret that there were more vampires like me.

He looked at me. "No." he put down the glass on the metal platter, and then the platter stuck to the glass. He and Magnus looked at each other. He held his hand over it, and the metal rose to stick to his hand. I realized my mouth was open in shock, and immediately closed it.

"Mmm…" Nikola said, "Well…I can work with that." Magnus and I smiled as Nikola continued to play with his new magnetic skills. I was happy to be here, with friends, and dreaded the thoughts of tomorrow, when we had to figure out how to explain the 'dead' car crash victim being alive again. They had cells in the Sanctuary right now, but we had to give them back to their parents somehow. I sighed and leaned back against the seat, laughing as Nikola, like a delighted child playing with a new toy, sent the platter flying across the room towards his outstretched hand.


	8. Haunted: It's Watching Us

"Anything?" I looked over Magnus's shoulder as she flicked through the messages.

"No…" she answered, still reading. "Wait, yes. A message from Ravi in Mumbai." She leaned closer to the screen. "SOS ship of empaths. Request immediate assistance. 59 souls on board. No other ships in the vicinity," she read. She stood up and we looked at each other.

"How are we going to get out there in time to help?" Magnus asked. I could sense she knew one option, but was loathe to accept it.

"There's only one option," I replied.

"John," Magnus confirmed.

"What?" Will asked, "You want to enlist a ruthless murderer for a rescue mission?"

"It's not ideal, I know," Magnus said, "but what other choice do we have?" Will reluctantly nodded.

"Wait a second," Kate interrupted, "One major hole in your fabulous plan. You're going to contact him…how?"

"When John and I saw each other last, when he rescued Tayla, he gave me this," she answered. She pulled from her pocket a locket, sterling silver with an ornate Victorian-era design. She flipped it open and casually covered the picture inside, but not before I caught a glimpse of a laughing baby with blonde hair who could only be Ashley. It was funny. I'd always pictured Ashley as a brunette like her mom. Huh. Anyway, Magnus turned the locket so the side facing the covered up picture caught the light, and pushed a button I hadn't noticed before. An almost inaudible click was heard; probably only my vampire hearing could pick it up it was so faint. Barely ten seconds had passed before Druitt appeared in our lab.

"Helen?" he asked, "You called?"

"I did," she said, "a ship of empaths are in trouble and they will all die if you don't get them out in time."

"Fine," Druitt answered, "For you." He disappeared again in a flash of red light and I hurried to get the medical supplies with Kate and Will. As I rolled a pair of stretchers down the hallway flanked by Will and Kate carrying bandages, I heard Druitt teleport in with his first group and then away again. I started treating wounds as quickly as I could. I was especially grateful for the special device Magnus had designed that kept my bloodlust under control. All the patients talked in their native language Zulu, and we often had to ask Magnus to translate for us.

Nearby, I heard Kate ask, "Umm, how do you say "It's all going to be okay' in Zulu?" Magnus answered with a long line that sounded something like: ninga catazeki, te gushulu unga. Kate turned her attention back to the man and told him, "What she said." Magnus laughed. I smiled and resumed bandaging one of the empaths. After exchanging a few words with Henry, she came over to me.

"We're almost done here. Could you go with Henry to prepare sleeping quarters for our guests?" I nodded my assent, peeled off my gloves, and was about to leave when Druitt teleported back in with a woman in his arms. She looked badly hurt, and I looked at Magnus to see if she wanted my help with the operation. She almost imperceptibly shook her head no. I turned and exited the room. Henry and I went up the elevator to the residential level. We prepped each room with pillows, extra blankets, and a small vase of their native flowers that Henry kept sneezing at.

After we were done, we headed down to Henry's lab where I knew he had been itching to go since this morning. He immediately started playing with his new weapon, tinkering and replacing tiny parts as he tested it. Just as he was satisfied with the result and was about to plug it in the charger, Will came in.

"Hey man, Kate needs your help with the new intake database," he announced.

"Can't you do it?" Henry asked, not taking his eyes off the weapon.

"I tried, but it looks like the system's fried," Will answered. Will reached down to touch something and Henry slapped his hand away.

"I'm a little busy here!" Henry said, annoyed.

"Whoa, well, tell that to Mumbai. They're screaming for our rescue and recovery files ASAP."

"MOLLY's primed for a charge; I can't exactly bail on her right now," Henry said as he held up the weapon.

"Molly?" Will asked incredulously.

"Modified O-wave Linear Expeller," Henry said.

"Now doesn't that acronym spell mole?" Will pointed out.

"MOLLY's hotter," Henry replied.

"Dude, it's a weapon, not a woman," Will said.

"Yeah, clearly you and I have not dated the same girls," Henry said, smiling.

"Okay, look, are you going to do this thing, because—"

"Okay, fine. Yes, fine! But you're going to have to take over for me, okay? MOLLY needs to be charged and assembled before the seams in the pulse magazine degrade."

"Whoa," Will objected, "You just made that up, right? That means nothing to me."

"All you got to do is open the stock, remove the power core and charge it, then you re-insert the power core back into the stock, you seal the magazine, vent the shaft, secure the laser sight and presto," Henry said, demonstrating as he went.

"You realize you're talking to a guy who flunked Allen key, right?" Henry got up and patted Will's back.

"Relax. You'll be fine." He was already at the door when he added, "Oh, don't overcharge the power core. You'll blow up the lab."

"Okay, so no pressure then," Will said. Henry left, and Will turned to me. "You got all that, right? With your vampire memory?"

"Vampire memory? I'm learning medicine, not mechanics. Good luck with that," I told him. I turned to go.

"Tayla!" Will said.

"Fine. I'll write it down for you. But I'm not going to be in here while you overcharge the power core." I scribbled down what Henry had said, and handed the piece of paper to Will. I hurried to catch up with Henry, who was walking down the hall holding Kate's laptop.

"What did you do to this thing?" he was asking.

"Oh, come on, now it's my fault?" Kate asked.

"Well, I'm just saying, you see this?"

"Who designed the database?" Kate countered.

"It is not the database," Henry said back.

"Yeah, says you," Kate replied.

"Are you…Who does this?" Henry asked, gesturing to the screen.

"What?" Kate asked.

"Okay, what is this?" Henry asked.

"I use my computer."

He pulled a CD from the disk drive. "What is this? Ah, the Craven Throng?"

"It's experimental garage acid. Oh, come on, you're telling me that my music screwed up your database?"

"Your freeware media player created a conflict in the com port access base," Henry explained exasperatedly.

"Henry, why is it whenever you talk all I hear is 'blah blah, blah blah' " Kate asked, raising her voice to block out his. Just then I smelled something, something I had been smelling for the last hour…

"I did not create this to be your personal stereo system, okay? I..." Henry stopped short. "Is that..." He opened the door, and we all jumped back in shock. One of the empaths bodies was lying in the closet, her blood seeping under the door. I ran for Magnus.

I burst into her office trying to catch my breath. "One of the empaths…dead…blood on the floor…residential…area." She stood up immediately and I knew as her eyes darkened that her first thought was Druitt. We sped down the hallway to where Henry and Kate were waiting. She knelt down and examined the victim.

"Blood's fresh, 20, maybe 30 minutes. Her throat's been cut. Henry, get the security camera footage. I want to know everyone who was on this floor in the last half hour," she told Henry.

"All right, you got it," he said as he left.

"Kate, gather our guests," Magnus said.

"I don't get it. These guys are so gentle. They're no threat to anybody," Kate said.

"Exactly, they're the perfect target," Magnus said grimly. Kate left and Magnus and I went in search of Druitt. She picked up a gun along the way, and I pocketed my watch in anticipation of a fight. We found him standing in front of a large window looking out on Old City.

Magnus cocked the gun behind him. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked.

"Turn around very slowly. How long?" she asked, sadness and disappointment reflected in her blue eyes.

He turned around slowly and said, "Long enough. Habits are…hard to break."

"Perhaps you're not trying hard enough," Magnus countered.

"I am who I am!" he thundered, "It's about time you did something about it." So quick I almost missed it, he threw his knife into the wall beside us and ran. Magnus shot after him, but was too late.

"John!" she called. She rounded the corner and shot but she was too slow. He disappeared around another one as we chased him. As we rounded the corner, he shot out his arm, clipping Magnus under the chin and barely missing me. The gun went flying, and he picked it up. He knelt by her. She tried to push herself into a sitting position with her free hand. I stood there, unsure what was happening, but ready to intercede in Magnus's defense at any time. I was nervous though; even with my increased speed I couldn't stop a speeding bullet without warning.

"I take it the EM shields are up," he said as he stood up. Magnus nodded. He drew a switchblade from his pocket and activated the blade.

"Indeed," he said sinisterly. He moved toward her and I was moving to intersect when we both stopped at the sound of Kate's voice.

"Doc! I heard shots," she called. Before I could react, Druitt moved to the edge of the hallway and sent her sprawling. MOLLY flew out of her hands and landed next to us. Magnus grabbed it and held it up as Druitt turned and walked toward us again. She fired, but the electric pulse only stopped him for a second. She fired a second time and he fell to his knees. In one last-ditch attempt, he thrust the knife toward her. She fired again and he collapsed. Magnus and I leaned over him and took his pulse. She slowly looked up, great sorrow etched on her face.

"He's dead," she confirmed.

"We have to get him to a defibrillator now, if we want to revive him," I said to Magnus.

"I know," she said slowly. I picked him up with the help of Magnus and Kate and carried him to the O. R. I half expected him to jump up and kill us all even though I knew he was dead. We laid him on the bed and Kate prepped the paddles. Magnus wanted to have me prep them, but I told her I'd stand over Druitt in case he tried again to kill us.

"He'll be so weak from dying he won't have much strength to do anything," Magnus reminded me. I acknowledged her, but remained where I was. She nodded to Kate to proceed, and Kate asked the question on my mind as she prepped the paddles and defibrillator.

"Tell me again why you're trying to bring a homicidal maniac back to life," Kate asked. I noted that Magnus still had her hand resting lightly on his cheek. He looked way calmer than I had ever seen when he was alive.

"It's more about compulsion than murder. I set him up for this, letting him loose on the Cabal. He knew I'd find out about his activities sooner or later. He wanted me to kill him," Magnus answered.

"No offense but you guys got a seriously messed up relationship," Kate commented.

"It's complicated. Charge the defibrillator. Second button there to 200 and clear!" Magnus instructed. She hit the button and a shock went through Druitt's body. He didn't move.

"Nothing," Kate said.

"300," Magnus said. Kate reset the defibrillator. "Clear!" Magnus said. Another shock went through his body, and Kate shook her head. "360," Magnus said. Kate reset the machine once again, and Magnus called, "Clear!" This time something did happen, but not what we wanted or expected. Sparks flew from all over the room. Magnus ducked and Kate looked around alarmed. A bolt of electricity jumped out from a wire and hit my arm. I jumped backward surprised and panicked, but it only felt like a little pinprick. It dissipated on my arm.

"Oh, what the hell?" Kate asked. The sparks stopped after a second ago and Magnus removed the paddles from Druitt's chest.

"We took a power surge," Magnus said, looking around.

"He's breathing again," Kate said. Magnus took his pulse, and an alarm went off.

"The infirmary; we got a problem," Kate said.

"The empath on oxygen, Musa, she's gone offline. We have to get her back here," Magnus said. Magnus picked up a radio. "Will, bring the patient from the infirmary to the O. R. now!"

"On it," came Will's reply. Henry was doing a full system reboot, and Druitt was alive but too weak to say anything, much less attack anyone.

"We need to check for any breaches in abnormal containment. We won't have full security until Henry's reboot is complete," Magnus was saying. Kate nodded, but looked at Magnus.

"You—you're cool with hanging with Jack the Ripper?" she asked.

"He's no danger to anyone right now," Magnus replied. Magnus removed her hand from Druitt's shoulder, and turned towards some equipment.

"Helen…" his voice came softly. She turned back. "I don't know why…I feel so strange."

"I know you wanted this to end more quickly. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"Why did you bring me back?" he asked weakly. Magnus only sighed. Just then Henry's voice came on over the radio, "Main server's coming back online now. I'm going to head to the O.R. and check on the bio-techs."

"Keep me posted," Magnus replied into her radio.

"Tayla, can you help me move him into a secure cell in the Shu?" she asked. I walked over to the other side of the bed and together we rolled it out the door onto an elevator which took us down to that level. Druitt's eyes were focused on Magnus's face the whole time, which made it kind of creepy. She ignored him and looked around at the walls of the Sanctuary that she knew so well. As we got closer to his cell, he insisted that he could get up and walk to it. We handcuffed his hands in front of him and escorted him like that the rest of the way. He seemed remarkably stronger now, even though he had had such a short period of time in which to recuperate. Magnus led him into one of the cells.

"The EM shield is at full strength. Attempt to teleport, and you will die," Magnus informed him.

"I understand," he replied, and he walked to the end of the room, not looking back at her.

"This is my fault, John. I should never have believed that you could change, that you had changed. How many have there been since…" Magnus asked.

"Since you let me back in? Does it matter?"

"You've been killing again and not just Cabal remnants," Magnus accused him. He turned to face her.

"Does it matter that I never wanted it to begin again, that I tried to stop? Helen, I tried!"

"This is Whitechapel all over again." Magnus sighed and paced the front of the cell, while Druitt kept to the back. He was eyeing me carefully, and I wondered if he was judging whether he was strong enough yet to beat me in a fight. Magnus was the one who broke the silence. "I'm arranging for your transfer to a secure facility out of the country. You are far too dangerous to ever be free again," she told him. She tossed the keys to the cuffs at him, and he caught them. We were moving towards the door, ready to leave, when suddenly the lights flickered and the door closed. We ran to it but were too slow to catch it. Magnus looked back at Druitt. He turned the key in the lock on his cuffs, and we looked between each other and him in alarm. I wished she had waited until we were out of the cell before she gave him those keys, but it was too late now. She pulled out a gun and aimed it at him. He took off the cuffs and placed them calmly on the table. She pulled out her radio. "Will, come in. Henry?" she called. She tried her cell phone, but that didn't work either.

"Helen…" Druitt began.

"Do not even think about teleporting. The EM shield stays active in lockdown mode," she said.

"I have no intention of escaping," Druitt said. He didn't sound like Druitt at all.

"Really?" Magnus asked.

"I will answer for my actions," he said.

"Don't try me, John," Magnus warned.

"I'm quite serious, Helen. Something has changed."

"Stop!" she almost yelled.

"Don't let him distract you Magnus. He can't change after what he's done," I told her.

"If you'll let me, I'd like to help," he offered.

"Stop talking. On your knees; hands where I can see them," Magnus ordered.

He obeyed, and asked, "Better?"

A few minutes later, he tried again, "This really is none of my doing. Otherwise, why would I still be here?"

"Accidental or not, I will shoot you if you give me reason," Magnus said.

"That is very clear," he said graciously.

"None of this makes any sense. Lockdown shouldn't cut off our communications or jam our radio and phone signals. Henry's overrides must not be working," Magnus said.

"Helen, I know there's no good time but I need you to understand something." The lights flickered, causing me to jump.

"What is this!" Magnus asked.

"It's as if a part of me has been severed," Druitt said.

"Magnus don't listen to him, he's lying," I said.

"Can anybody hear me?" the Big Guy asked. I jumped again.

"Yes, I can," Magnus replied, "Where are you?"

"Elevator," came the Big Guy's grunting reply.

"There's been a malfunction in the security system. I need assistance," Magnus said.

"Not the only one," the Big Guy answered. That sent a chill down my spine. Who else was in trouble?

"Magnus, we've got a patient in major distress here," came Will's voice.

"Where are you?" asked Magnus.

"In the O. R. with Henry. It's Musa. She's having a seizure."

"Doc, her heart rate is rapid, but her blood pressure's really low," Henry said.

"I don't know enough about her physiology. How do we proceed?" Will asked.

"First priority, stop the seizure. Can you find a vial of diazepam? Two milligrams in an IV. Can you set that up?"

"Yeah, we're on it," Will said.

"Good. Let me know when that's up and running," she said.

"All right," Will agreed.

"It should calm her convulsions."

"Uh, yeah, okay. I'm doing it now. Oh boy," Henry said.

"So what the hell happened?" Kate asked.

"I've already tried everything I can from a remote terminal. This isn't a glitch, believe me. We're locked out on purpose," Henry replied.

"You know, we're all cut off from each other but there's elements of the security system that is still active. It's got to be a targeted attack," Will said.

"No. No way. Since we got hacked, our remote security protocols all have triple redundancies now, it's totally not possible," Henry said.

"No perimeter breach detected no data theft, and these odd power fluctuations?" Magnus listed.

"Yeah, I know. None of it matches the patterns of a remote hack," Henry agreed.

"And yet we're all at a perfect disadvantage."

"Okay, so we got hit by something, Any theories on how to undo it?" Kate asked.

"You know, this all started right after Henry rebooted the entire system. Everything was fine and then…" Will said.

"The system overloaded. It must've damaged the automated commands running the Sanctuary," Magnus realized.

"All the security cameras are working, but I can't get into a system that I created. It's like someone's running all this in real time," Henry said.

"You think somebody's controlling things from inside the building?"

"Yeah, one of the abnormals we rescued?"

"Impossible, they're here seeking asylum and it's not their way."

"Helen…" Druitt stood up. "When you revived me…"

"The overload, a massive energy surge," Magnus said.

"Yeah, but from what?" Will asked.

"I feel different. I feel…purged, purified," Druitt continued, ignoring Will.

"It came from you," Magnus said.

"I think so," Druitt said.

"How's Musa doing?" Magnus asked.

"Uh, well, the convulsions have stopped. She seems to be stabilizing," Henry answered.

"Good. Henry, take the defib paddles and charge them to maximum," she ordered.

"All right. Okay, max power, ready."

"Juice the electrical panel." I stared at her in surprise, momentarily taking my eyes off Druitt.

"Something just came out…What the hell was that?" Will asked.

"It's not anyone inside the building, it's the building itself!" Magnus said. She lowered her gun.

"What does that mean?" Kate asked.

"That something very much alive is in control of the Sanctuary," Magnus replied.

"What, like as in an electrical being?" Will asked incredulously.

"This one appears sentient, even natively intelligent. It's found a way to cut us all off from each other."

"The fluctuations; it's testing its new environment," Will said.

"Exactly, and it won't be long before it has full control," Magnus said.

"Okay, time out. Are you guys sure this thing is hostile? It's a trapped creature. Maybe it'll just…I don't know, hang out and chill," Kate asked.

"It's violent, remorseless, relentless. It won't give up ground without a fight. Think of it as facing me," Druitt said to them through the intercom. A raging Druitt in control of the Sanctuary. Scary.

"Once it has full control of this facility it will be unstoppable. It could easily spread to the city and beyond," Magnus said.

"So how do we fight it?"

"Henry, we need—"

"—defense protocols, you got it, Doc. I just need to be able to feed it into the network."

"Which won't be easy," Magnus agreed.

"Fill me in," Will said.

"Energy creatures often behave like viruses. They forge a parasitic relationship with whatever host environment they can invade," Magnus explained. I listened carefully, still keeping a watchful eye on Druitt.

"Yeah, about four years ago we had something like this caught in our back-up generators.  
>It caused a lot of craziness till we flushed it out," Henry agreed.<p>

"How'd you do that?" Will and I asked at the same time.

"Well, this one's got me locked out, but…You know, if we can restart the main power, do a cold start, I might be able to gain control."

"Which means getting into the catacombs and shutting down the power," Magnus said.

"Which we can't do, can we?" Will asked.

"Well, we have to find a way. Kate, can you get out through the top of your elevator, climb to a different floor?" Magnus asked.

"I've already thought of that but opinions are divided," Kate said.

"I don't like it, not with something monitoring our every move," the Big Guy grunted.

"Yeah, it's watching all of us, which is kind of creepy," Will said.

"Oh, come on, it can't know what we're up to," Kate scoffed.

"All of you, knock out your security cameras as…politely as possible," Magnus ordered. I pulled a piece of cloth out of my pocket and jumped with my vampire strength up to the camera, quickly dropped the cloth over it, and fell back down, landing on my feet.

"Done," I said.

"All right, done," Will said.

"Henry, are you able to log onto the network?"

"Yeah, but I'm totally locked out. It's like playing Xbox without my... joystick."

"All right, keep trying to hack in. As the creature adjusts to its new environment, it may give you an opening."

"All right, I'm on it."

"Will, do you have any access to the old duct system from where you are?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess there must be. Why, what are you thinking?"

"The old heating system's obsolete. We switched to radiant years ago."

"Meaning it's probably outside of electro's field of vision. Nice," Will said.

"Get down there, reboot the system. It should give us control of some of the key sections," Magnus said.

"All right," Will agreed.

"Kate, one of you should climb up to the next floor, see if there's another way to the catacombs."

"We're on it," Kate said.

"You said you feel…different. What do you mean by that?" Magnus asked Druitt.

"The darkness within me is gone…completely. Far more than when Tesla shocked me, that was appeasement, but this…this is…so peaceful," he replied.

"It must have happened when I restarted your heart. The creature jumped from you into the facility itself."

"But how did it end up inside me in the first place? I have no recollection of ever encountering it before."

"You wouldn't have to…God, it actually makes sense. Every time you teleport, you convert your molecular structure to pure energy."

"Yes."

"The creature could have latched onto you during one of your jumps, integrated into your being when you re-materialized."

"And now…that its influence is gone…Is it not possible this entity was the sole cause of my bloodlust? That it's been polluting my soul since I began using my power?"

"Oh…" she walked toward him, "I want to believe you, John, but it's far too easy to blame everything you've done on something else."

"Yeah, you're right. My mind is so…clear. As it was when we first met. That thing was my rage. I'm sure of it." Magnus had tears in her eyes; she really wanted to believe him, but she couldn't. Henry interrupted them.

"Doc? It's looking for something! It's scanning our chemical directory."

"How could it actually access those compounds?" Druitt asked.

"Using the robotic assist mechanism, it is possible. What else could it be after?" Magnus answered.

"Well, it could just be doing an inventory diagnostic. I don't know; I'm still scanning. I'm trying to find a way to break in. If it shifts focus for…" Static came through the intercom, and then nothing.

"Henry?" Magnus asked.

"Damn, it must have figured out how we were communicating," Magnus said, "John, what's its agenda?"

"Chaos, death, suffering, sound familiar? Once it learns everything it can about its environment the violence will escalate," he said.

"Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?" I asked.

"You're right," Magnus said, looking at me seriously.

"Wait a minute…" I began, "Don't the heating ducts that run from the O. R. to the catacombs go right below us?"

"Oh no…" Magnus said.

We started pounding on the floor, calling, "Will? Will? Can you hear us? Get out of there!"

Just then, when I thought things couldn't get worse, I heard the elevator start going, and Kate and the Big Guy's voices going by our floor. Then the slight screech of a falling elevator, and Kate's: "Ah!" as they fell. Then there was a loud screeching noise, the sound of emergency elevator brakes stopping a freefall. The floor cooled down too.

"Henry must have broken in," I said in relief. And then, of course, the screeching began again.

"Oh no," Magnus said, "It's taking them higher and stripping the emergency brakes in the process."

"What happens when they reach the top?" I asked.

"They drop," Magnus said darkly. The screeching noise continued, getting louder as the elevator got closer to our floor.

"Come on, Will, cut the power!" I muttered.

"I believe your people have risen to the occasion," Druitt said.

"Of course they have," Magnus said.

Henry's voice came through the radio, "Hey, doc, it's Henry. Will did it. Communications are back, so's most of everything else."

"Most?"

"Yeah, I'm working on it. Doc, the toxins it was scanning? It's making something very bad, very fast. It's using the automated assist."

"Can you override it?"

"Yeah, that's the problem. I've reclaimed everything else but I'm still locked out of the main lab. I can't make it stop."

"Mr. Foss, can you open the door?" Druitt asked.

"Uh, Doc?" Henry said.

"It's all right, Henry," Magnus said.

"All right, hang on," came Henry's reply. The door opened, and we all ran out. We took the stairs to the main lab. The door was shut tight, and Druitt leaned against it as Magnus addressed Henry.

"Saran gas nerve agent. We've got about 90 seconds. It'll release the compound into the vents," Henry said. Druitt turned to Magnus.

"It won't end here. It will grow, consuming whatever it can and never stop killing," he told her.

"Henry, we need more time," Magnus said.

"We don't have it," Druitt said, looking at Magnus. Will joined the group, and I whispered to him, "Where are Kate and the Big Guy?" An expression of sadness suffused his features.

"The elevator crashed," he said. Then, looking at Magnus, he raised his voice and said confidently, "Okay, power's been reset. We should be good. What's happening now?"

"My entire body is geared to being its home." Druitt, still looking at Magnus, said these words like he was trying to persuade her.

"John," Magnus said pleadingly.

"Let me go."

"John, you don't have to do this. We could find a way…" Magnus pleaded.

"I love you. Remember that…always," Druitt said with a voice I had never heard before, like there was a caring, loving side to his personality I had never seen. He looked over toward Henry and asked, "Mr. Foss, would you be so kind as to deactivate the EM shield?" Henry looked at Magnus for approval. She nodded to him, and then returned her searching gaze to Druitt. "For all eternity," he said softly. He disappeared in a flash of red light. Then the door opened, showing us Druitt on the floor. Magnus, Henry, Will, and I rushed through the door over to him.

"I need a med kit right away," Magnus called to Will, who ran off. She was taking Druitt's shoulder to turn him over when he woke, pushing her on to the ground.

"Get away from me!" he said, moving into a defensive standing position.

"Please, let me help you!" Magnus cried.

"I don't need your help!" he yelled angrily, but there was an unmistakable sadness in his eyes.

"It would have killed a lot more if it weren't for you. You kept it at bay."

"I need to leave now," he said. His was face contorted like he was battling with two sides of himself, which, I suppose he was.

"Where are you going?" Magnus asked.

A small smile overtook his features and he said, "I have no destination in mind."

"John, wait," Magnus said futilely. He teleported away in another flash of red light.

"Put the EM shield back up," I said to Henry.

He clicked a few things on his tablet computer and said, "Done."

"Magnus?" I asked.

"I'm…I'm alright," she said. She took one last moment to look at the spot where Druitt had been, and then turned away. She looked around. "Where are Kate and the Big Guy?" she asked.

"The elevator exploded, Doc," Henry told her.

"But they could have escaped through the hatch at the top," Magnus pointed out. We ran to the elevator and pulled open the doors, revealing the elevator shaft. I looked up at the cable that used to hold the elevator, and, sure enough, about two stories above us, Kate and the Big Guy were wrapped around the cable.

"Get some rope," Will said. Henry produced some from a nearby emergency storage closet, and handed it to Will. "Catch," he yelled to them, and threw one end of the rope. Kate caught it in one hand and wrapped it around both of them. "You're going to have to slide down," he called to them.

"What?" Kate asked, "Are you crazy?"

"Just do it," he called. They loosened their grip and started a semi-controlled slide down to the end of the rope Kate held.

The Big Guy took hold of some rope too, and grunted, "Ready."

"Okay," Will called down to them, "Let go of the cable."

They both let go, using only the strength of their arms to hold them up. They swung slowly towards our wall, though two stories below us. The hit the wall with a dull _thunk _and Kate found a small ledge to put her feet on.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We pull," Will answered. Like tug of war, all of us lined up on the rope. "One, two, three, pull!" Will commanded. We pulled with all our might, and stepped backward a step. Then another. Then another.

"It's working," Kate called up to us. Soon, we reached the end of the hallway. Then we started pulling the rope back behind us, leaving a messy pile of rope as we pulled. Kate's head emerged on our floor, and, a minute later, they collapsed on the hallway floor.

"I…" Kate gasped, "officially…hate…elevators!" Will laughed, and pulled her upright. The Big Guy got up with Henry's help, and we were all laughing despite the serious events of the day. We headed down to the kitchen to get some dinner, and Kate lingered by the elevator shaft for a second. "Will?" she said. He turned back.

"Yes?"

"Thanks," she told him. I smiled, and hurried to catch up with Magnus and Henry.


	9. Kali Part 1: Hot, Dry, and Sandy

I dropped down silently from the roof of the old warehouse. "All right, I'm in position," I said quietly into my tightly clutched radio.

"Everyone else is too," Aaron, the squad leader, replied after a moment, "We go on your mark."

I was here, on a mission by myself. Aaron, an ex-marine who I had recently become acquainted with, and his squad were here to help me capture one of the Cabal vampires. We had a tip off from a reformed abnormal smuggler that a vampire who matched the description of George Cabalus was living in this building. It wasn't the soundest information we had ever acted on, but it was better than nothing. We had set up a perimeter around this dilapidated warehouse to try to capture him.

"All right, go," I ordered. I took off from my squatted position and pushed the creaky metal doors open with my foot and flicked my flashlight on. They slammed against the wall with a bang, startling an eighteen-year old boy. He had shaggy blonde hair and looked at me with an expression of pure fear. I shone my flashlight around as he backed away. I located the light switch and flipped it. Nothing happened. The boy was backing away, edging toward the double doors. I set my flashlight down on the floor and put my hands up, showing my intention was harmless.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I called to him, "I just want to talk to you."

He stopped. "Who are you? Are you with the police? Because I didn't kill that guy! I didn't!"

"I'm not with the police," I assured him.

"Then who are you?" he asked suspiciously, still backing away toward those double doors.

"I don't know if you'll recognize the name or not," I said, "But you might know me as Juliana. Juliana Cabalus." That made him stop. He looked at me warily.

"Prove it," he said.

"Prove what?" I asked stupidly.

"That you're like me," he answered. I hit the button on my watch and it released from my arm instantly. I pocketed it, watching the boy. I transformed, my nails and teeth elongating, and a split-second later I stood in front of him, leaving only a cloud of dust where I had been standing before.

"Good enough?" I asked him in the deeper voice of a vampire. He looked at me boldly, his fear forgotten. He transformed too.

"Yes," he hissed, "Now what do you want?"

"I want you to come with me to somewhere safe," I said. He glared at me.

"You tricked me! I'm not going to some lab, where they'll experiment on me!"

"No—" I tried to explain.

"I've been doing fine on my own," he hissed. He jumped backward, ten feet in the air at least, landing easily on his feet next to the double doors. I moved forward with inhuman swiftness, coming out of vamp mode as I went to stand beside him. He kicked the doors open and leaped up to land on the roof when a blue ray hit him. It held him in place for a moment, and then he crashed to the ground, knocked out.

"Good shot," I told Aaron. He lowered the weapon.

"Thanks," he said, "It should hold him until we get back to the Sanctuary." We loaded him into the van, and the rest of the squad climbed in with him. Aaron drove us back to the Sanctuary in record time, I had a feeling he wasn't entirely comfortable with having a live vampire in the back seat. Henry's vampire stunner proved its worth, and there was nothing to worry about. George Cabalus remained unconscious the whole way back. We loaded him onto a stretcher to carry him inside. The Sanctuary was oddly empty, very different than it had been this morning. But then again, everyone could just be upstairs. This place was huge. We had just finished putting the boy in a temporary vampire-proof room when I received a call on my cell phone.

"Hello?" I said.

"Tayla, it's Will," he said.

"Where are you?" I asked, "It seems like the entire Sanctuary is empty."

"We need you to join us at the London Sanctuary," Will said, "A lot of abnormals have broken out of their enclosures all around the world. Magnus and I are about to board a plane there from Tokyo right now."

"Okay," I replied, "Tell Magnus that we successfully caught one of the Cabal vampires."

"Will do," Will answered. There was a click, and I slipped my phone back into my pocket. I managed to get a plane ticket to London, and packed my tablet computer with its charger. I boarded the plane and it took off. The entire ride seemed like it only took a second, and before I knew it I was walking into the conference room of the London Sanctuary. Magnus was talking the other Heads of House on the big screens, and I slipped up beside Will.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," I replied.

"All right, everyone, please, let's not panic," Magnus addressed the Heads of House via the video screen, "There has to be a reason that this is happening. We just have to remain vigilant until we can figure out what it is. In the meantime, survey your sentient abnormals and keep tabs on the rest. Report any changes in behavior to Declan immediately."

"Dr. Magnus, I must insist..." an abnormal man said from his screen.

"That's all. Thank you," Magnus said sharply. One by one all the screens went black, until only one was left. It was Ravi's, of the Mumbai Sanctuary. He was my favorite head besides Declan.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Magnus?" he said.

"Yes, Ravi, what is it?" she asked kindly.

"I'm not sure if this falls under our purview but I thought it was worth mentioning. A man was found shot dead in Dharavi. He had the mark of Kali on his left leg," he replied.

"Kali?" Will asked.

"Yeah, it's an ancient cult dating back 5,000 years. Its followers were rumored to be able to foretell disaster," Magnus answered.

"So they're abnormals?" Declan asked.

"We've no idea. We've never actually made contact with them," she said, and then turned back to the screen. "I appreciate it, Ravi. Thank you. I'll be in touch." His screen winked out too.

"So, what do you think? You think this Kali thing ties in?" Will asked her.

"I've no idea. This situation's so fractured, anything, no matter how insignificant could be a factor."

"Yeah," Will agreed. They looked at each other. Will looked at her incredulously. "You want me to go to Mumbai?"

"I have to stay here and manage this situation," Magnus said.

"You mean manage Wexford," Will said, gesturing to the screen.

"Yeah, you picked up on that, did you?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, just a little. Okay," Will consented.

"Take Kate with you to Mumbai. It'll be fun," Magnus suggested, "Tayla can stay here with me and sit through the boring arguments with Wexford." I groaned as Will left.

"Come with me," Magnus said.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I left the room with her.

"Egypt," she replied. I stopped and stared at her. She turned around. "Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot you weren't there for the whole meeting. A dead sand ray surfaced inexplicably in the Eastern Desert."

"Oh, okay," I replied, but I groaned again inwardly. Another flight. Did I mention I hate planes?

This flight, unfortunately, didn't go by as fast, even though it was a shorter trip. She brought me up to date on the mysterious abnormal uprisings, and I told her about our capture of one of the Cabaluses. We got off in Cairo. The first thing I discovered about Egypt was the heat. Magnus and I walked down the crowded, sandy streets of Cairo and eventually arrived at a Sanctuary research facility. A woman came out and introduced herself as Pili. Magnus obviously had worked with her before. She showed us to a battered old car. She barked out an order to the driver, a native Egyptian, and we piled inside. After about an hour of driving, or should I say bumping, we arrived at the site of the giant dead sand ray. We all got out, including the driver and his buddy, who just stood around the car as we went to look at the ray. At a direction from Magnus, we climbed on top of the sand ray. Magnus knelt down to examine it near its large head.

"Female, you can tell by the markings," Magnus said.

"Hmm, yes," Pili agreed.

"Oh, young too. Maybe sixty, seventy years old? Damn, there aren't that many of these left," Magnus said.

"I've arranged for a helicopter transport to Cairo," Pili told her.

"We should do a biopsy on the wings, tail and cephalic lobe, send them to London. Declan can do a full work-up, see if there's any link to the other abnormals," Magnus said. Pili called an order to the guys waiting by the car in Egyptian. They went into the trunk and hauled out a tent and a couple of cases of equipment. They set it up with amazing speed, especially in this heat. I helped Magnus take a few preliminary samples, and she went inside the tent to analyze them. Pili and I were outside looking at the ray again when Magnus called us in there.

"Helicopter's a half an hour out. Apparently, they had some problems with navigations," Pili informed her.

"That's all right. It's giving me a chance to study these samples. What do you make of this?" Magnus turned the microscope towards her and Pili bent down to look.

"Evidence of nociception," Pili answered, looking at Magnus.

"Exactly, this creature was in pain," Magnus agreed.

"Which explains the fear reaction, but what caused it?" Pili mused.

"I still don't know. I'll have to compare notes with Declan when I get back to London," Magnus answered. The woman turned to go. "Pili," Magnus asked, "You worked with Terrance Wexford in Berlin, right?"

"Yes," Pili answered, but she didn't look like she had happy memories of it.

"How do you think he's enjoying his new post?"

"I think he's enjoying the authority of it immensely."

"I see. Thank you, Pili," she said. Pili left and Magnus pulled the microscope towards herself again.

"Magnus," I asked, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking the Wexford is going to cause a lot more trouble than he already has before this is over," Magnus answered darkly.

A helicopter arrived about fifteen minutes later, and I was amazed to see it lift up the huge ray and fly off with it in the direction of Cairo. We all piled into the car again. We made good time despite the large sand dunes that always seemed to be in our way, and arrived at the large warehouse that had been rented for the biopsy. The normal research facility was too small to house a creature that large. We spent the rest of the day poring over legends, records, and anything else that might have a reason for the sand ray to surface.

The next day we finished our work in Egypt, and flew back to London. For once I didn't mind the flight; I was grateful for the coolness of the plane, tired of the endless desert heat. Declan greeted us at the entrance.

"How was Egypt?" he asked.

Magnus sighed. "Tiring. And what's the other word I'm looking for? Ah, yes, sandy. What's been happening here?"

"Well, you'll be pleased to hear that most of the affected abnormals have calmed down substantially. Whatever was causing the flare-up seems to have dissipated somewhat," he answered.

"Well, that's a relief," Magnus commented. We entered the main lab, with a projected map displayed prominently in the middle. Red dots marked the places the abnormals went haywire.

"These are the locations where the events took place. London, Tokyo, Sydney, Rio, Lagos, Cairo," Declan explained.

"There doesn't appear to be a common link between them," Magnus said.

"No pattern that I can discern," Declan agreed.

"You're saying all these places were affected at the same time?"

"Yeah, roughly, why?" Declan asked.

"Well, if it was some kind of trigger it would have to be very strong and moving very quickly."

"An EM pulse of some kind?"

"Maybe."

"But that doesn't align with the symptoms we're seeing."

"Exactly, I mean, none of the abnormals we're dealing with are usually affected by EM spikes."

"Not to mention I don't know anything powerful enough to send a pulse worldwide like that."

"Still, I'll have Henry go over the satellite data. There must be something we're missing," Magnus said. We spent the rest of the afternoon poring over data, most of which went over my head. I was still relatively new to the study of abnormals. Henry's response came at about eleven o'clock in the evening. We were still working. The computer beeped, and we all got up from our work to look. I hit the "Accept Call" button, and Henry's face appeared on the screen.

"Doc?" he asked.

"I'm here," Magnus answered from my side, "What did you find?"

"You were right about the pulse. Chinese weather satellite caught a trace of a unique energy signature right around the time the incidents began but I followed it to this," Henry said. A map appeared on the monitor. "It's an EM pulse originating in Mumbai, right in the heart of Dharavi."

"Dear God," Magnus breathed.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I said. So, what do you think it means?" Henry asked.

"That this is somehow connected to the cult of Kali," she answered. "Henry, Tayla and I will be leaving on an overnight flight to Mumbai. Can you inform Ravi of our arrival please?"

"Yeah, sure, Doc," Henry agreed. His face blinked out. Magnus turned to me.

"Are you packed?" she asked. I held up my tablet computer, still in its protective case. "I'll take that as a yes." Turning to Declan, she said, "You stay here to monitor the situation from here." Declan nodded, and headed off.

"Don't we need plane tickets?" I asked, "It's kind of late for that…"

"We're taking my helicopter," Magnus answered. I grimaced, and Magnus asked, "What?"

"Nothing. Just remembering the last time you flew a helicopter."

She smiled. "I'll try to stay away from abandoned oil rigs this time."

Fifteen minutes later, we were cruising through the air. The chopper blades beat above us, and we soared off in the direction of Mumbai.

"No sleep tonight, I'm afraid," Magnus said, with a sideways glance at me.

"That's fine," I replied. "Have you talked to Wexford lately?"

She made a face. "No. But I suspect he'll seek me out in Mumbai." We nearly froze on the night flight over to Mumbai, but we landed safely on the Sanctuary grounds around nine in the morning. Kate met us outside the doors to the Mumbai Sanctuary.

"I can't find Will," she said breathlessly.

"You lost him?" Magnus asked, instantly alert as we stepped inside.

"No, he wasn't feeling well so he headed back to the Sanctuary early," Kate answered worriedly.

"Did you check the hospitals?" Magnus asked sensibly. Ravi came up beside us.

"Nobody fits his description," he answered solemnly.

"What about his cell phone?" Magnus asked.

"Or his radio?" I offered.

"We tracked it using the GPS. Found it in a ditch. And we weren't carrying radios."

"I've organized a search. We have people going door-to-door," Ravi informed us.

"Don't worry, we'll find him. Show me this statue you found," Magnus said. Kate pulled out her gun and checked the magazine.

"Kate?" Magnus asked.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"He's out there, which means I am too," Kate said flatly. She left out the doors we had just come through as we all stared after her. Magnus blinked, and then turned to Ravi.

"Take us to the statue you found," she said. He led us to a lab, where a strange, intricate black sculpture sat on a table. Magnus went over and sat down next to it. She picked it up carefully, running her hand slowly over the patterns. "It commemorates the ceremony of acceptance," she said finally.

"You recognize it?" Ravi asked, looking mildly surprised.

"From a conference in Brazil about forty years ago; markings are similar, signifying a cult member's initiation as a doot." Doot? What was a doot? I was just opening my mouth to ask when Ravi beat me to it.

"Doot? I don't know that word," he said.

"Ancient Urdu dialect meaning herald or guardian or, in some translations, prophet. It was believed that the doots could foretell disaster…earthquakes, tsunamis, and the like…and that the advance warning gave the other cult members a chance to escape," Magnus explained.

"Seems like someone with that ability would be worth more alive than dead."

"Definitely. You're sure there was nothing inside these?"

They're completely solid. Scans for surface residue are still pending," Ravi answered. Magnus looked carefully at the statue again.

"Oh…the pattern inside here changes. The design loses symmetry. Something's missing," she said.

"But what?" I asked.

She looked up at me. "Honestly," she said, "I have no idea." Ravi checked the computer.

"The residue scan is done," he told us. Magnus gently placed the statue on the desk and went over to the computer. Ravi and I crowded around her. She hit a few keys, and an image of a spider came up.

"I don't believe it," she breathed.

"What?" Ravi asked.

"Tests show surface residue on the statue came from a Makri," she answered.

"I'm not familiar with that species," Ravi said.

"You wouldn't be. It's an incredibly rare species of abnormal spider that requires a warm blooded host to survive. I thought they were extinct."

"Something that rare would be very valuable…" Ravi said.

"Oh no, this isn't about money. This is about something far worse. The Makri is a subspecies off-shoot of a marine-dwelling abnormal known as _Gephallis bertallosso_. It's a massive arachnid creature capable of manipulating tectonic plates via focused magnetic resonance."

"You're talking about Big Bertha, the one who makes the earth move."

"And the waters rise. The Makri is its tiny genetic cousin. They may well have a link, a chemical or even psychic bond that allows the host a deeper connection to Big Bertha," Magnus explained.

"So if anyone finds this Makri…"

"They could potentially use it to locate the most powerful abnormal on Earth," Magnus finished. I frowned. According to the mission logs I'd been going through, Magnus euthanized Big Bertha a long time ago.

"Wait, but Big Bertha is dead. You killed her four years ago, yes? We all know that," Ravi said. I grimaced, guessing what her answer would be. Magnus only looked intently at Ravi. "Dr. Magnus?" he prompted.

"Not exactly. Bertha is alive," Magnus said finally.

"You kept her alive and lied about it?" Ravi asked.

"Historically, creatures as powerful as Big Bertha have a symbiotic relationship with other life forms on this planet," Magnus hurriedly explained, "I felt that euthanizing her would create far greater problems: tidal patterns would be altered, undersea ecological systems completely destroyed, massive geological shifts. The best course of action was to keep her secure and under watch. Killing her posed far greater risks than keeping her alive." Ravi only sighed.

"Where is she?" he asked. Magnus moved to the computer and typed in something, presumably her password.

"A specialized containment field at the bottom of the Indian Ocean," she answered.

"Which you kept hidden from the entire Sanctuary network," Ravi said.

"It was necessary to keep her and the rest of the world safe! It was my prerogative, Ravi, my choice," Magnus said.

"Okay. Fine. We need to dispatch ships immediately, increase security to the entire area…"

"Of course, I'll get Henry on it. He'll coordinate but we need to find Will. If the Makri behaves the way I believe it does then it could well be a doorway into finding Bertha's location, which is no doubt what the mercenaries were after when they killed Mr. Paveljit. Is Kate back yet?"

"No," I answered, "She's still on the streets looking for him."

"I must inform the Heads of House of this new development," Ravi said. Magnus sighed, and under her breath, barely audible, I think she muttered, "Terrance." Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, the monitor beeped with an incoming call from Terrance Wexford, head of the New York Sanctuary. Magnus sighed, and, after giving me a "here we go" look, stood in front of the computer and hit the accept call button. An abnormal with ruffles of skin on his neck appeared on screen.

"Helen, news travels fast," he said, skipping the greeting.

"Terrance," she replied.

"You kept Bertha alive after all we discussed," he said.

"It was necessary," Magnus countered.

"And I appreciate your opinion but things have changed considerably. Do you have any leads?"

"At the moment, we're at a bit of a disadvantage but Bertha is secure, I assure you."

"And let's hope she stays that way. You're certain this Makri is linked to her?"

"We are now."

"Let me come to Mumbai; help you analyze everything you've learned," he requested, but it didn't sound much like a request. More like an order.

"You don't need to do that. Besides, you've got your hands full in New York," Magnus tried to dissuade him.

"You have my complete support, Helen, you always have, but people are questioning your judgment," he said. Masked beneath the simple statement was a threat: He could make other heads back him instead of her if she didn't cooperate. Luckily, Magnus was unfazed.

"I can handle it," she responded.

"I hope so," he said before he cut off the video link. Magnus sighed again and looked at me.

"You know what would make the Sanctuary Network perfect?" she asked.

"What?" I asked.

"A less steep political landscape," she replied. The computer beeped again and Henry came on. Ravi must have informed him of our current situation.

"Hey Doc; hi Tayla," he said.

"Good to see you, Henry," Magnus said, "What's our status?"

"We've got search ships moving into the area now. We should be at Bertha's coordinates in six hours or less," he replied.

"Good. I want you on a plane immediately with the weapon. We'll monitor her sensors from here," Magnus ordered.

"Yeah, about that, just so you know, I went over the sensor logs. You know how she's supposedly been asleep this whole time? Well, guess what happened at roughly the same time as the Mumbai EM pulse?"

"She responded to the call of the Makri," Magnus said.

"Yeah. She emitted a magnetic burst so low in frequency that the sensors didn't detect it until I did a full scan but it was powerful enough to briefly alter the earth's magnetic field. Magnetic North was shifted by one hundred thousandth of a degree. Navigation instruments all over the world were affected. Doc, that is power," he said. Magnus nodded. "Anyway, I've got a plane to catch," Henry said, "See you in Mumbai." He cut the video link, and Magnus had just moved away from the computer when another one came in.

"Please not Terrance," she said as she turned back to the computer. This time the Big Guy's face appeared on the screen.

"Henry's en route," he grunted.

"Good. I need a detailed list of all naval traffic within a 500 kilometer radius of the coordinates around Bertha," Magnus said. The Big Guy growled.

"What is it?" Magnus asked.

"Satellites just picked up a disturbance in Mumbai," he answered. We crossed over to another set of computers.

"It's the EM pulse again," Magnus said.

"The Makri."

"Where's it coming from?" I asked, bending over to look.

"It's coming from a warehouse about six kilometers northeast of here. We need to let Kate know," Magnus said.

"I will," the Big Guy answered. We both nodded. "Wait," the Big Guy grunted, "I have a sensor alert from Bertha's containment location."

"What?" Magnus asked.

"Movement."

"I'll let Kate know about the EM pulse," I told the Big Guy, "You concentrate on Big Bertha."

Moving to the other side of the room, I sat in a chair next to yet another set of computers. Like cages in our home Sanctuary, computers were in abundance here. I pulled up the map of the EM pulse and took a snapshot of it with my iPhone. Then I dialed Kate's number.

"Tayla," she said tersely in greeting, "I haven't found Will yet."

"I may have a lead on that," I told her, "And if it's not him, you should check it out anyway. I'm sending you the map now…"

"I see it," came Kate's answer a few moments later, "Ravi's with me, we'll head there right away." There was a click, and I slipped my phone back in my pocket. I walked swiftly back over to Magnus. On screen, the Big Guy was hunched over the keyboard typing something.

"Big Bertha?" I asked.

Magnus looked at me sadly. "She's gone. We lost telemetry on her." I nodded. She picked up her walkie from the table. "Kate, what's your position?"

"We're almost there," Kate said, her voice slightly distorted by the radio.

"Reboot is complete. I've lost all satellite data for the region," the Big Guy informed us through the monitor.

"Well, get it back!" Magnus said.

"I can't."

"Damn it, they used her to blind us. They've got Big Bertha," Magnus said. She got up from her seat and paced the room. Just then, my phone started playing E. T. by Katy Perry: Kate's ringtone. I pulled it out of my pocket, put it on speaker phone, and answered it.

"We found Will, but he's got no pulse," Kate said breathlessly, fear and anguish quivering in her voice. "Ravi's doing CPR, but we need you and Magnus to come get us in the van!"

"Let's go," Magnus said, running down the hall. I followed her, thinking: _Could this get any worse?_


	10. Kali P2: Did We Just Destroy the World?

We ran through the halls of the Mumbai Sanctuary, Will on the gurney and Magnus giving him CPR. Kate was beside her and Ravi and me not far behind.

"I'm putting his blood sample into the system now!" Ravi said to Magnus as we ran.

"Come on!" Magnus yelled as she pumped his heart.

"Come on, Will!" Kate said. Will suddenly regained consciousness. He started thrashing around on the gurney.

"It's going to be okay," Kate pleaded.

"Normal cardiac tach," Ravi said.

"Help me hold him! Will, it's Helen! Can you hear me?" Magnus cried.

"Kali…She's out there!" Will said frantically, still struggling. Magnus hopped off the gurney and started to run beside it.

"God, what the hell did they do to you?" she asked. Will started talking in Hindi. "He's in shock," Magnus said as she ran. We reached the infirmary and Ravi pulled a strip of paper

"Dr. Magnus…" Ravi began as he handed Magnus the strip of paper.

"Oh, my God," Magnus said. I looked from Magnus to Ravi, not understanding what was going on.

"What is it?" Kate asked.

"His organs are going into systematic failure," Ravi replied.

"His system's been flooded with toxic antibodies. Turn him!" Magnus ordered.

"What? He's been poisoned?"

"No, the Makri, it must have been removed by force. It would have released these toxins," Magnus explained.

"But I thought the hosts can't survive without it," Kate said.

"They can't! Will!" She hooked an IV to his arm as he finally stopped thrashing.

"Leave. Please," she said, "Give me space to work." I led Kate out of the room, even though she didn't look happy about it. We found and empty room with Ravi and sat down on the couches, none of us saying a word, our unspoken fear hanging heavily above our heads. Ravi left a few minutes later, most likely to inform the other heads of the recent development. Finally, when we couldn't stand it any longer, Kate and I got up and went back to the infirmary. Magnus was still there, checking Will's vital signs I think. He's unconscious but not as restless as before.

"Hey," Kate greeted her, "God, he looks terrible."

"Unfortunately the Makri's absence from his nervous system is causing a hypersensitive immune response. I've stabilized him for now, reduced the fevers, prevented more seizures. We're running tests. I know of a few treatments that could slow his decline but we simply don't know enough about the Makri or its effect on his physiology," Magnus told us.

"Any sign of Bertha?" Kate asked.

"All our resources are being diverted to the search but it'll take time. She could be thousands of miles away by now," Magnus answered, her voice wavering slightly.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. You did what you had to do," Kate said kindly. Magnus gave her a small smile.

"I wish it were that simple. The truth is, I broke the rules that I myself set into place. I knew it would come back and haunt me sooner or later."

"No, Doc, there is a psychic link to a parasite and an ancient cult. Abnormals all over the world are acting crazy. I would say that your hunch about Bertha being connected to the eco-system is on the money."

"She could destroy millions of lives!" Magnus said.

"And by killing her, she could destroy millions of lives. So what kind of choice is that?" Kate countered. Magnus nodded. "Look, it happened…So we improvise, we fix it. What else can I do?"

"Find out if Henry's made it to the lead search ship. Patch him through when he's ready," Magnus said.

"Done," Kate said and left the room. I followed, leaving Magnus to tend Will once more. We headed back up to the room we had sat in earlier and pulled up chairs next to a computer. We monitored the video chat until a message bubble came up saying Henry was calling.

"I'll get Magnus," I said to Kate. I ran back to the infirmary. "Henry's calling," I told Magnus breathlessly.

"Okay," Magnus said without looking up, "I'm just about finished here." Together we went back to Kate. Henry appeared on the screen.

"Doc," he said, "Bertha's magnetic burst definitely caused a spike in weirdness. I've adjusted our navigation systems to compensate. Also, Declan's reporting more incidents of abnormals appearing in public stirring things up."

"Yes, I've been getting messages from heads of Sanctuaries all over the world. Things are only getting worse," Magnus agreed. Kate and I exchanged a glance.

"Hey, Doc, listen, about Bertha. I'm really sorry I wasn't there to help," Henry said.

"You were in the air, Henry. There's nothing you could've done," Magnus assured him.

"Yeah…"

"Okay, so we lost round one. What's our next move?" Kate asked the group.

"We need to re-establish contact with Bertha's tracking device," Magnus replied, looking around at us all.

"Yeah, bad guys have got her under some sort of a jamming cloak. None of my scans are picking anything up," Henry said.

"Who the hell could've done this?" Magnus asked.

"Someone with major connections in the abnormal world," Kate offered.

"It's far more than that. This is someone who has put together pieces of information that are thousands of years old... the cult of Kali, the Makri, its connection to Bertha."

"Who everybody believed was dead," Kate agreed.

"We didn't even know; how could anyone have found out?" I said.

"Yeah, you know this whole cult thing, I mean that's got to be like biblical old, huh?" Henry asked.

"Older in fact; there are legends of abnormals who were movers of earth, heralds of the great floods, the whisperers who could talk to all creatures. All these predate even the earliest Egyptian dynasties. Someone studied this as though it were all fact not myth and now they have control of the most dangerous abnormal on Earth. I want to know who we're dealing with and where they've taken her. Get us back in the game, Henry," Magnus ordered.

"Yeah," Henry said. Just then alarms went off.

"The infirmary," I said.

"Will," Magnus agreed, her face white. We kicked back our chairs in our mad dash to the infirmary. Kate left out the doors and back into Mumbai, probably because she felt useless in the infirmary. She felt that she was much better at searching for clues. Ravi was already at the infirmary when we burst in. Magnus ran over to Will's bed, took one look at him, and said, "Ravi, I need two milligrams lorazepam! Hold him still, or he'll lose the IV!" Ravi handed her the syringe and helped me hold him down as Magnus injected it into his IV.

"Help me! Help me find her!" Will cried out frantically.

"Will, talk to me," Magnus said desperately.

"Help me find her..." Will said, catching Magnus's wrist and looking deep into her eyes. He said something in Hindi and then slumped backwards onto the pillow. He quieted after that, unconscious again. The doorbell rang, and Ravi left to answer it. I brought Magnus her laptop. Ravi came back a few minutes later.

"Dr. Magnus?" he asked. She placed her laptop on the table and stood to face him.

"Have you heard from Henry?" she asked.

"Still trying to steal back satellites to pick up Bertha's trail. He's going through every ship in the area at the time she escaped. So far all their stories check out. He's looking for false registries, shell companies..."

"It's taking too long. Bertha's been gone more than 12 hours now. Someone has control of her. Declan's reporting more abnormals worldwide wreaking havoc."

"Controlling the spin on that many sightings; not easy."

"And Will, he's speaking more Hindi now than English when he talks. He keeps calling out for Kali."

"Quite possibly a side effect of having the Makri forcibly removed," Ravi said.

"It isn't," Kate said. We all stared at her. She entered the room with a small boy.

"This is Arjuna. He says he's a member of the cult. Tell them what you told me," she told the boy.

"Your friend is still connected to Kali," he said.

"Are you certain?" Magnus asked, looking at him directly.

"If he still sees her, in his dreams, they can speak. Kali's an apsara."

"A sea spirit."

"Bertha?" Kate asked.

"Once the Makri chooses its host that bond can't be undone even when the Makri is gone," Arjuna explained.

"Can he sense this apsara, control it?" Magnus asked.

"Not without the Makri to help him," the boy answered.

"He's helpless," Magnus said.

"Unless they call her in a rapati sungu," Arjuna said.

"Rapati sungu?" Ravi asked.

"He must dance for her."

"Dance for her?" Kate asked in disbelief.

"If he dances a song for her, she will hear him. If he dances well she will listen to whatever he says."

"Are you sure about this?" Magnus asked.

"Of course, I am to be a host when I am older. I've been training since I was very young." The ringing of the phone interrupted us. Ravi picked it up and spoke into it.

"Infirmary, go ahead," he said. He lowered the phone and turned to Magnus. "You have a visitor," he informed her. Magnus and I left the infirmary for the conference room.

"Any bets on who it is?" I asked her. We entered the conference room, and, sure enough, there he was. Terrance Wexford.

"Helen," he greeted her.

"Terrance," she replied guardedly. He cut straight to the chase.

"You took Bertha to the woods to kill her and you never pulled the trigger. The optics on that are…" he began.

"Oh to hell with the optics, Terrance. It was my choice not to kill her. If I thought it would be popular I wouldn't have kept it secret," Magnus said.

"Well, the only problem with lying is getting caught," he said evenly. She took a seat on the couch next to me.

"What are you saying?" she asked bluntly.

"I'm saying that eighty…fifty years ago even, no one would have challenged you on this but things have changed. Helen, I'm sure you did what you thought was best and at the time, it probably was, but now…"

"I couldn't have known about the Makri or that someone would have figured out a way to control Bertha remotely."

"And I know you took every precaution, but it still happened. Look, this isn't even about credibility. It's becoming about trust. You need to contain this situation quickly."

"We need to find whoever's controlling Bertha and sever the connection. Once I get her back into containment again, then I…"

"Containment, Helen? Bertha is a threat to every living creature on this planet and you want to put her back in her box?"

"This issue is far larger than you could possibly understand. Killing her is a last resort. The other heads of house agree. It would be far too reckless."

"Yes, some feel that way but not all…and Helen, the tides are turning. We've known each other for a long time and I owe you everything…but you need to rethink your stand on this. You're on thinner ice than you realize." She gave him an icy stare as she pulled out her ringing phone.

"Excuse me," she said coldly as she got up and left the room to answer it. I followed, giving Wexford a glare as I went. We walked down the hallway and Kate joined us as Magnus pulled out her cell phone.

"Henry," she said, setting it to speakerphone. She listened as we entered the other room. She walked over to a computer and hit the shift key. "But you found something," she said into the phone. Henry's face appeared on screen.

"Yeah. Hi!" he said, looking at us and putting the phone down. He waved and Kate and I, feeling kind of foolish, waved back. "Yeah, I hacked into the databases of a few Fortune 500 companies and I cross-referenced their boards of directors. You know, those guys make a whole bunch of money for doing pretty much nothing?" he continued.

"And?" Kate asked.

"And, well, one of the guys sits on the board of every company that had ships in the region where Bertha was hijacked. Here you go. This is Edward Forsythe. Now, he's a big player in the global geo-mining biz, okay. This guy owns half of the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea Oil Project, all right? And he was in Mumbai when all this went down."

"I've met him before," Magnus said, surprising everybody, "He approached me at a conference years ago, asked all sorts of questions about abnormals in ancient mythology."

"Oh, sorry. It's a bit rough in here. So I don't know how he knows what he knows, yet, but he did buy a lot of ancient artifacts from museums over the last few years for like, insane amounts of money."

"What kind of artifacts?" Magnus asked.

"Totems, scrolls, ancient texts; it's all Shroud of Turin, Indiana-Jones stuff. He believes every abnormal can be traced to a certain region of Pangaea going back like, millions of years."

"The original super-continent," Kate said. I looked at Magnus, raising an eyebrow as if to say, "Is he right?"

"That's an interesting theory, but there's no proof," Magnus answered thoughtfully.

"So what does a billionaire art collector want with an earthquake monster?"

"Well, controlling Bertha's like having the ultimate nuke. I mean, he could be using her to leverage oil rights anywhere in the world; political blackmail for business contracts. Any coastal city is in jeopardy if he lets her loose."

"No. That's a lot of risk for a little gain. I mean, the guy definitely doesn't need the money," Kate debated.

"Then what on Earth is he up to?" Magnus wondered aloud. A loud ringing bell came from inside the Sanctuary walls.

"Is that…?" I asked. Magnus took off towards the infirmary, Kate and I close behind. Behind us, still on the monitor, Henry resumed typing on his computer as we raced towards Will. We all skidded to a halt at the infirmary doorway, me slamming into Kate and pushing us both into a wall as I stopped.

"He's gone," Kate breathed sadly.

"We need a search party going right away," Magnus ordered, "Kate, grab those photographs from the desk and let's go." We met up with Ravi in the computer room. After we had explained the situation to him, he rounded up all the non-essential personnel. Magnus started handing out radios to the men, while Kate gave them each a photograph to show to the local residents. "I should have taken more precautions. His state of mind's been deteriorating lately," Magnus said.

"I've contacted the local authorities, given his description," Ravi informed us.

"Oh I'm sure they'll be a big help," Magnus said sarcastically.

"You'd think a white guy wandering the street screaming about Kali would get noticed," Kate said as she handed out the last photo.

"Not really," Ravi said seriously, "It's Mumbai."

"I want all abnormals with psychic and remote-viewing abilities activated as well. If Will's mind is still linked to Bertha there may be a way to track him using unconventional means," Magnus ordered.

"On it," Ravi said and left. Just then another person entered the room. I had forgotten he was here.

"Helen..." he began.

"Not now, Terrance," she said.

"We need to get on a ship, lead the search for Bertha and end this," he said.

"The search is ongoing. Finding Will is just as important. His link to Bertha may well be the key."

"I need five minutes."

"Take over. I'll be right back," she said to Kate and motioned for me to come with her to speak to Wexford.

"Got it," Kate replied.

"Come with me," Magnus said unhappily. She led him back to the conference room and leaned against a table as he began his rant.

"I know Will is tied into this but you're only going to dig yourself a bigger hole by taking your eyes off of Bertha," Wexford argued.

"Believe me, this is the right strategy," Magnus said.

"No, it isn't!"

"You are way out of line," Magnus said.

"You need to shift your focus on this right now," Wexford told her, "Lying about not euthanizing an extinction level abnormal would've gotten any other head of house suspended but because it's you, they're trying to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Which they should."

"For how long! And now with this Forsythe character, who can control her by remote, what would you say if the shoe were on the other foot?"

"There are extenuating circumstances. We don't know enough yet about her connection to the Earth. You don't destroy something that powerful without having all the facts."

"The fact is, she can destroy half of Europe when she's upset! You've taken us to the brink, Helen. How did you think the network would respond? You taught us to think like this. You said, 'question everything'. They're giving you 72 hours to contain the situation." Magnus only sighed and nodded. A beep came from a nearby computer, and Magnus strode over to it, Wexford and I looking over her shoulder.

"It's Henry," Magnus said as she hit the accept call button.

"Doc! Geosynchronous satellites detected major magnetic disturbances about four minutes ago. I'm sending you the data now. Look based on the resonance pattern this has got to be Bertha."

"Re-direct all search teams to the coordinates immediately," Magnus ordered.

"Yeah, we're closing in now and I know your next question…why would Forsythe send Bertha there?"

"Tectonic plates," Magnus answered.

"Because the tecton—yeah…right," Henry said, slightly put out.

"It's a convergence point of three major tectonic boundaries in the southern hemisphere…the Indian, African and Arabian plates. Dear God, he's going to set her off."

"Listen, I've got your long-range chopper at Shivaji Airport prepped and ready to go; should get you out here within six hours."

"Good. Is the weapon ready?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, one VLF Bertha stunner ready to go. You get close enough the acoustic bullet should put her back to sleep. Just, the problem is…"

'We have to get close enough," Magnus finished.

"Yeah," Henry agreed.

"All right, I'll get there as soon as I can," Magnus said.

"Okay, fly safe," Henry answered.

"You're using a long-range acoustic device against Bertha?" Wexford asked incredulously.

"With a clear shot, we could knock her out. Forsythe can't control an unconscious creature," Magnus explained impatiently.

"What if it doesn't work? You need an alternative," Wexford said.

"I'm hoping it won't come to that," Magnus said evasively.

"There's too much at stake, Helen."

"I agree and if there is absolutely no alternative then I will destroy her," she said finally. Wexford looked semi-satisfied with this answer, and he raised no further objections while we prepped for flight. After six hours of flying over empty ocean, we arrived at the lead search ship. Henry was there waiting for us with a large device that looked kind of like a waffle iron. Magnus remained in the pilot's seat while I help Henry load the weapon onto the helicopter.

"We'll monitor you from here! Maintain radio contact!" Wexford called up to her over the noise of the blades spinning above us.

"Do nothing unless I order it," Magnus clarified.

"Of course," Wexford agreed as Henry and I climbed in the back seats with the weapon.

"Ready!" Henry called to her. We lifted off from the ground and went flying over the ocean again. After about thirty minutes, Magnus called to Henry, "We're almost at the coordinates. Anything yet?"

"Yeah, reports of seismic activity in the area, low-grade but pretty constant. I'd say we've got to be getting pretty close. I'm just getting some weird mapping data here. Okay, that's just crazy," he said, leaning closer to the screen as we flew.

"What is it?" Magnus asked.

"I'm cross-checking with our nautical charts. Just hold on. Okay, either we're totally off course or…Doc, I'm reading a chain of islands dead ahead but there's nothing in the charts indicating any land mass just open ocean."

"That's because it's new," Magnus said.

"She's not making earthquakes."

"She's making land!" Magnus opened a channel to the ship. "This is Magnus. We have a complication. Are you getting these images?"

"Yes, we are. Sonar indicates tectonic plates are diverging rapidly. We're also detecting a smaller vessel approximately six miles west of your position," Wexford answered.

"What do you want to bet it's Forsythe?"

"This is the captain," another man said, "We're moving to intercept."

"Don't!" Magnus said quickly, "He's got control of Bertha. If we try taking his ship there's no telling what he'll do. That's why he's out here alone, he has the ultimate bodyguard."

"If she keeps building land at this rate…" Wexford said.

"…it'll cause massive destruction to the entire region, I know. We're circling around trying to get a better lock on her position," Magnus informed them. The chopper banked steeply left.

"Copy that, standing by," Wexford said.

"Henry?" she called back to us.

"I can't get a shot. We didn't anticipate her making islands and they're kind of in the way," Henry answered.

"Dammit," Magnus said.

"What do you want me to do, doc?"

"Target Forsythe's ship," Magnus answered.

"Forsythe's ship?" Henry asked.

"If we can't get a shot at Bertha we might be able to use the LRAD to sever his connection to her."

"Oh, man…" Henry muttered. He gripped the sides of the weapon tighter, and then stared down at his screen in disbelief.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning over to look.

"Doc! We have a weapons lock on our position! He's got missiles?"

"Of course he does!" Magnus yelled. Down below, I could see two streaks of light heading past us and then turning around.

"Deploying countermeasures. Hang on!" Magnus said. She hit a button and a tail of fire came out the back end of our helicopter. The first missile targeted that instead and exploded. The second one did likewise, seconds later. Henry laughed.

"Yeah! Nice move, doc!"

"Get ready to fire the weapon!" Magnus warned.

"I have a shot!" Henry yelled.

"Take it!" Magnus ordered. He gripped the weapon and a pulse shot out of it. It hit the ship, hopefully knocking out everyone inside. I smiled, and Magnus even looked a bit relieved.

"What's Bertha doing now?" she asked.

"Scans indicate…She's inactive! I think it worked!" Henry rejoiced.

"Magnus, did you hit the target?" Wexford's voice came through.

"She's quiet."

"But still conscious?"

"Yes. We should be able to guide her back to her containment area. I'm heading back to the ship. We'll regroup for the next phase."

"Understood," Wexford replied. Magnus steered the helicopter back towards the lead search ship. We approached the ship quickly, just in time to see depth charges being launched off the side. Horror filled me as I realized what Wexford was doing.

"No! Depth charges? Terrance, what the hell are you doing?" Magnus yelled into her radio. A crackling sound came through, but nothing else.

"They must have cut us off from communications!" I yelled up to her.

"Damn it!" Magnus cursed. She landed the helicopter skillfully and we all jumped off it. We banged into the ship's control room.

"What the hell are you playing at? She was calm!" Magnus exploded. I had never seen her like this before.

"We had a window of opportunity. It had to be done."

"Captain, please escort Mr. Wexford to the brig pending my orders," she said.

"With all respect, ma'am, I can't. I received a coded message on the secure network frequency. Mr. Wexford…"

"…by unanimous consent you are hereby relieved of your command of the Sanctuary network, effective immediately," Wexford cut in. I stared at him, shocked.

"Dude, you cannot be serious!" Henry exclaimed.

"Don't interfere…dude. I'm in charge of operations now. You're remanded to custody pending further disciplinary action."

"You had this planned all along," Magnus said.

"My orders were to take over if you failed and by letting Bertha live yet once again, you most certainly have. I'm sorry, Helen. You gave me no choice."

"You have no idea what you've done," Magnus said.

"I saved lives. I did what you refused to do." Just then an alarm bell sounded.

"No, Terrance!" Magnus said. She pushed open the door to the deck outside. "This is what you've done!" We all followed her outside. On her newly made islands, Big Bertha, a giant spider-like creature, writhed in rage. She lowered her belly to the ground, and pushed it up, releasing a massive burst of blue light. A humongous tidal wave spread out in all directions from the island, and it was headed right towards us. We gripped the railings and less than two seconds later, were all immersed in water. We were all batted aside inconsequentially, thrown to other parts of the ship. A wave of water burst over the deck and I was slammed backward into the wall. Everything went black. 


	11. Big Spider Little Spider: Equally Deadly

**Kali Part 1 - Hot, Dry, and Sandy**

**TV-PG L**

When I came to, the ship's alarm bell was ringing. People with medical kits ran everywhere, treating people. Great pools of seawater were all over, and people splashed through them uncaringly. We had more important things to be worrying about. Magnus called to me from a bandaging up a man with a long scratch on his arm. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I called back, getting up gingerly. There was a rather large smudge of blood on the wall, but I had healed instantly as usual. I looked over the railing. Many men were floundering in the water, but that wasn't the reason for the wails of panic. I looked out further. I couldn't see the islands; they were masked by the smoke. That wasn't it. It was the ships: at least two of them, smoking and capsizing into the water. The thought of the people on board made me sick. I imagined the hell going on in there, everything not bolted down falling to one side, people opening doors to find an escape route only to have water rush in from the outside.

"Tayla!" one of the crew members called. "Get those life jackets to the men in the water!" I looked around and spotted an orange life jacket poking out of the storage room. I hurriedly yanked the door open and they all came spilling out. I tossed them over the side to the men below, treading water for their life. They caught the jackets and either put them on or used them as flotation devices. Once they were all gone, I went looking for Magnus. I found her by her helicopter, which amazingly was still in place, not even scratched. She was ending a call. She looked around alarmed. Just then I realized we were moving, but not in the right direction. Not toward the men who needed our help.

"Oh, bloody hell!" Magnus said. We headed for the control room.

"Why are we heading away from the life boats?" Magnus asked Wexford as soon as we were inside. She saw the island dead ahead. "You're going after Bertha," she realized, "After what just happened!"

"You saw what she can do," Wexford answered, still staring at the distant island.

"After you provoked her!" Magnus said, "And now you intend to do it again?"

"This time I'll be prepared," he said.

"Terrance, think about what you're doing."

"This is not your operation Helen!" he turned angrily to face her, "You're no longer Head of the Sanctuary Network, I am!" Magnus looked at him and then turned on her heel. She ran out of the room and back to her helicopter. I followed just as quickly, and we stopped before it. I knew what she was going to try to do.

"Tayla," she said, "You know you don't have to do this."

"I'm going," I said, looking her straight in the eye. She nodded and climbed into the pilot's seat. I climbed into the back. The blades above us turned slowly.

"Come on, come on!" she muttered. They beat faster and we rose into the air. We flew just above the ship, and the crew looked up at us as we flew overhead. I could see the missiles being armed. Magnus expertly positioned the helicopter between the missile launcher and Bertha and kept us hovering there.

"Helen, come in," Wexford's voice crackled over the radio. "I know you can hear me Helen, this is not a game." Magnus made no move to answer him. "You need to return to the ship right now!" She banked right, and finally said, "This is not your decision to make, Terrance. Bertha must survive." She turned the chopper until we were headed straight toward the giant spider.

"Come on, get back in the water," she muttered to it. She flew so close I could have reached out and touched the ancient spider. It responded with a noise unlike anything I'd ever heard before, a cross between a device coming on and the buzz of a bee. Her belly glowed yellow, and before we knew it she sent out a localized magnetic burst, frying all our systems. The helicopter veered off course, going into a spin as we dropped toward the water. I gripped my seat, too terrified to speak. Before we crashed, I caught one last glimpse of Wexford's ship, and was glad to see the pulse encompassing it too. My last thought before we hit the water was that at least his weapons systems would be down.

"Bloody hell," Magnus muttered as we crashed into an incoming wave. We sank in a cloud of bubble, the water hitting us like a brick wall and filling the helicopter almost immediately. I pushed off the side into the water and swam up about thirty feet to the surface. I sputtered and gasped, treading water frantically. Magnus popped up next to me, breathing hard. Twenty feet away, the wreckage of our helicopter sank out of sight.

"We made it," I gasped. She nodded in agreement. She looked out behind me. I turned. "What…" A ship was approaching, but it wasn't a Sanctuary ship. "Forsythe," Magnus muttered. She looked at me. "Don't reveal your powers." There was shouting on the ship, I knew they'd spotted us. Two life preservers came down from it, attached to the side by stout ropes. "Here we go," I said. They hauled us up and immediately trained their guns on our heads. There was no sign of Forsythe. The man who seemed to be in charge of the rest of the crew went through a door to the right. I could hear him clearly conversing with another man, who talked in an almost cynical tone.

"It's funny; I thought I said I wasn't to be disturbed."

"I'm sorry sir, but there's something you need to see."

"Yeah, I highly doubt that. In fact, I've seen pretty much what I need to see for the rest of my life."

"You're gonna wanna come for this," the man said. I heard the door open and close again, and footsteps in the hall. "Ooh, can I guess? Is a giant squid attacking the ship? Did Grimsby win the FA Cup?" they rounded a corner, and the Edward Forsythe's eyes widened at the sight of Magnus.

"We just fished her out of the water," our man said.

"Huh. Well, I'll be damned," he said cockily. He ordered his men to get us blankets and took us inside. He lifted an ornate teapot from the table and handed us each mugs. "It's um, Dashilan Samate. They say it gets its taste from the Himalayan breeze that cools the valley where it grows," he continued as he set the pot on the table again, "Not impressed?" He shrugged. "I have to say, I'm, I'm so honored to be here with you. I'm such a fan." Magnus glanced at the gun pointed at her. "Ah, I've been a fan of yours for a long, long time. Ever since I heard that speech you did in Maldives about the new genus of Backinawa, Iowa." Quick as a flash, Magnus knocked the gun arm of the man guarding us. She pinned him and took his gun. She kicked him to the floor and pointed the gun at Forsythe. "Really?" he asked, "Why? Why do I even hire these guys?" he gestured to the man on the floor.

"This is not a social call," Magnus said, standing. The man tried to get up and I kicked him back down as I got to my feet. "I appreciate you saving my life, but your utter recklessness has caused unimaginable pain and suffering to the people of this region. And it promises to do much worse before this is over.

"You going to kill me?" he asked carelessly.

"No," she said, "you are going to communicate with Bertha and convince her to stop these waves."

"Yeah, can't do that," he said. Magnus cocked the gun threateningly.

"No, really," he said, "I can't do it."

"Why not?" Magnus asked.

"Same reason as I don't give a crap about that gun being in my face." He opened his palm, revealing a dead spider.

"The Makri," Magnus said.

"Yeah," he agreed, "died about an hour ago. Apparently this rare form of arachnid species has a low tolerance for stress. And of course as its former host, I am a dead man as well. So, I'm sorry, but, without him, I can't connect to Bertha any more than you can." Magnus lowered the gun. We stood over by the window, looking out over the ocean. Behind us, the door opened. Another guard and an old Indian woman stepped through. "Phoebe," he said, "So nice for you to have joined us." She pushed the other man's hand off her.

"Haven't you done enough?" she asked.

"Tribe and Kali cult member, meet Dr. Helen Magnus." The old woman's weathered face broke into a smile.

"From the Sanctuary?" She put her hands together and inclined her head. "Chakalimanki."

"You guys know each other?" Forsythe asked.

"She is well-known among my people for protecting special creatures of the Earth."

"I'm so sorry," Magnus said, stepping forward, "about what happened to the Makri. Your people have done a remarkable job of keeping it safe."

"It wasn't your fault," the old woman said, "The fault of this bull mage."

"Ouch, Phoebe," Forsythe said.

"We need to get in contact with Kali," Magnus told her, "Is there a way to do that without the Makri?"

"You wish her to help stop the destruction?"

"I believe it is still possible," Magnus said eagerly.

"With Kali," the old woman said, "anything is possible. But only if her true host pleases her. If there is no Makri, then he must dance the rapati sungu."

"Yes," Magnus said, "We tried that already, and it worked at first, but one of my own people interfered and the connection was lost. Please, is there anything else?"

"In my cult, there is an ancient legend," the woman began, rocking back and forth slightly, "that a former host will see Kali one more time: at the entrance to the spirit realm."

"Tayla," Magnus said, "Get me a video link to the Mumbai Sanctuary." I nodded and sat down at one of the computers.

"Got it," I said. I looked over her shoulder. Ravi appeared first, and then Kate and Will. I was delighted to see Will so healthy, more than he had been in days, but my face fell almost instantly at the thought of what we were about to ask of him.

"Magnus," he said wonderingly. I realized that, up until now, everyone thought we were dead. "Tayla."

"Hello Will," Magnus said.

"How did you—? Where are you?"

"I'll explain later," Magnus said, "Listen, I've just found out that there may be a way to restore communication with Kali."

"That's great, how?" Will asked.

"There is a belief amongst the members of the cult that Kali will appear to a former host one final time: at the gates to the spirit realm."

"The spirit realm," Will said, "as in…"

"I'm afraid so. In order to talk to Kali, you have to die."

"You're kidding, right?" Kate said after a pause, "Since when do we trade on blind faith? And even if it's true Kali may not listen. Or she may not be able to stop the wave." She looked desperately at Will, trying to talk him out of it.

"Give me a minute," he said.

"Of course," Ravi said.

"Tell me you are not seriously considering this!"

"Just," Will said, "give me the room." After they left, Will looked at Magnus. "How sure are you about this?"

"Not very," Magnus answered truthfully, "but, like all beliefs, it all comes down to a leap of faith. We do know that Bertha shares some connectivity with the rest of the world. We've seen evidence of this in the abnormals that reacted to her outbursts. But whether or not she can control the waves is anyone's guess."

"Walk me through it," Will said.

"We induce cardiac arrest but continue to monitor your brain activity so we can revive you." Will sighed.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"It will," Magnus said.

"No," Will said, "What if it's not long enough? I'm just saying, I'm dead anyway. Once the Makri leaves the host, the host dies, those are the rules. So what exactly am I coming back for?"

"Because I'm not prepared to give up on you that easily," Magnus said.

"Neither am I," I said, "And by the looks of it, Kate isn't either."

"The decision to do this may be yours, but the decision on how far to take it is absolutely mine. No argument Will." He nodded, and Magnus shut off the video call. She pulled up another one, and I frowned. Terrance Wexford's face appeared on the screen.

"Helen," he said, not looking happy to see her at all.

"Doc!" Henry said, breaking into a smile, "Tayla!"

"Terrance," she said formally, and then smiled, "Henry."

"You're alive," Wexford said.

"Sorry to burst your bubble," she said.

"That's not fair, Helen. I know we've had our differences, but I've always had the utmost respect for you, and the best interests of the Sanctuary at heart."

"Good," Magnus said, "Then pay attention. We think we found a way for Will to reconnect with Kali. He's going to attempt to convince her to stop the waves."

"How?" Wexford asked.

"We don't know yet," Magnus said, "but if he can reason with her—"

"_Reason_ with her?"

"And if I'm right about her inter-connectedness with other life forms—"

"Are you listening to yourself?"

"All I'm asking for is a bit of time, Terrance. Bertha isn't a threat at the moment."

"According to who?"

"If you attack her as you did before, you will not only put Will's life in danger but you risk angering her again."

"We've been through this. My orders, as given to me by the heads of the Sanctuary Network, are to eliminate Bertha. Now if you're smart, you'll stay out of my way."

"I can't do that, Terrance, there's too much at stake."

"Then I can't guarantee your safety," he cocked his head, "I'm sorry it's come to this, Helen."

"And yet, here we are," Magnus replied. She reached down and severed the connection. She turned the computer back over to Forsythe's right hand man. "Can you search for Big Bertha's tracker?" she asked politely. He nodded and addressed her formally, "Yes, ma'am." _Squeak. _Forsythe had taken a seat on the luxurious couch and was tossing a noisy ball up in the air and catching it over and over again. _Squeak. _Here we were, trying to save millions of lives, and he was playing with a squeaky ball. _Squeak. _I resisted the urge to knock it out of his hand. The computer beeped, and a 'Not Found' message popped up on the screen.

"Told ya," Forsythe said uncaringly, "Last magnetic burst completely wiped our systems."

"Let me widen the parameters," the man said, "run it again."

"Thank you Charles," Magnus said. _Squeak_, went the ball as Forsythe caught it again. He looked at Charles.

"Charles?" he said, "I thought your name was Kyle."

"Charles," Charles said, concentrating on the computer screen.

"Huh," Forsythe said as he tossed the ball up in the air again.

"You know, you could help instead of lounging around like a frap boy," Magnus suggested. _Squeak._

"I gave you Kyle, didn't I?" Forsythe said, squeezing the ball to its utmost.

"Charles," Charles said.

"Anyway, why should I care? My days are numbered in hours."

"If Wexford finds Bertha before we do, it'll ruin any chance we have of stopping those waves, not to mention what she'll do if he attacks again!"

He smirked, "Yeah, well, not really my problem, is it? But it is a wonder to see you work." He threw the ball up in the air again. _Squeak. Squeak. _This time, however, he threw it sideways, and it landed on the floor (_squeak_) and rolled away. Magnus stepped on the ball, stopping it in its tracks. It made one final _squeak_ and then was silent. "Could you pass me my ball please?" he asked. She threw it across the room and I caught it deftly, my inhuman swiftness displayed. He looked at me carefully, trying to judge what I was, as he cringed. She turned back to Charles, who was still dutifully typing away at the computer.

"Dr. Magnus," Charles said, "I'm receiving an incoming data stream."

"What does it say?" Magnus asked.

"It's simple binary code."

"What do you suppose that means?" Forsythe asked, actually getting up to come look.

"They're coordinates," Magnus said, revealing the notepad on which she was scribbling the numbers that came up.

"What for? Who sent them?" Forsythe asked.

"Henry," Magnus said with a happy glance at me, "He's sending us Bertha's location." She ripped the piece of paper with the numbers on it off the pad and handed it to Charles with a smile. "Plot a course," she told him, "Let's go out on deck." Forsythe, Magnus, and I walked out to the bow of the ship looking out. Magnus looked out over the ocean.

Charles came out on deck carrying a tablet computer. "We're approaching the coordinates," he announced. "I'm picking up another magnetic disturbance."

"I know," Magnus said, watching Bertha, "What is she doing?"

"We've got company!"Forsythe called out. I spotted the lead Sanctuary ship off the side. "How fast can this thing go?" I yelled to Forsythe over the wind. He looked back at the ship doggedly following us in the distance.

"Not as fast as that," he replied.

"Helen, come in," Wexford said through the radio.

"This is Magnus," she said.

"You need to give way, Helen."

"Can't do that Terrance," she said.

"I told you not to interfere."

"Dr. Magnus," Charles interrupted, "I've received an urgent call for you." She accepted the phone.

"Hello?" she said, and then smiled, "It's good to hear your voice, old friend. What have you got?" She paused, listening. "What? How?" She pulled Charles tablet towards us. I looked over her shoulder. "It's amazing," she began, tracing the line with her finger, "Hundreds of miles of red algae would have completely altered the viscosity of the water!"

"Helen," Wexford said through the radio, "I have limited patience. You need to stand down."

"I'll get back to you," she said to the phone, and held the radio up to her mouth. "Listen, I'm sending you a report out of Sallala. I'm convinced Bertha did this. Will's attempt to communicate with Will was a success."

"For all we know this could be a coincidence or perhaps the abnormal community acting independently."

"Be reasonable, Terrance. All I'm asking for is a little more time to allow what's happening to run its course."

"Our scans indicate that Bertha is creating magnetic energy as we speak; the risks are too high."

"Terrance—"

"We're done," he cut her off, "You need to clear the target area immediately, or you will be fired upon."

"What are we going to do now?" Charles asked.

I knew Magnus had a difficult decision to make but her voice was steady as she replied, "We stay put. We need to give her time to stop the other waves." Forsythe looked up from his sad, hunched position.

"We don't all have to," he said to Magnus, "It only takes one person to control the ship, doesn't it? And I'm a dead man, right? There's a launch below, you guys need to get on it." He coughed. "Charles, go and tell everybody else and don't forget the old woman, all right?"

"Yes sir," Charles said. I realized it was the first time Forsythe had remembered, or even cared enough to remember Charles' real name. Charles left for below.

"You don't have to do this," Magnus said.

He coughed. "Course I do."

"Pangaea. That was your plan. A private colony out here. Your own Sanctuary."

"Bertha was to be the jewel," Forsythe said, "I was gonna be beautiful. You uh, you can't blame me for dreaming big."

"It's a rare quality these days," Magnus said with a sad smile.

"Yeah," he agreed, "Get going, darling, before I change my mind." He picked up the bottle of alcohol.

"Thank you Mr. Forsythe."

"Edward," he said. Magnus smiled and nodded.

"Edward," she agreed. She turned to go inside and down the stairs. I took something out of my pocket and held it out to him. _Squeak._ He looked down at the yellow ball in my hand. He closed my fingers around it.

"Keep it," he said, "And I'm sorry…for everything that happened."

"Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes. But there is one thing I would like. Show me your abnormality. I want to see one last thing of beauty."

"You have a rare sense of beauty," I said, "Most would not call an abnormality beautiful." I hit the button on my watch and transformed slowly before his eyes.

"A vampire," he breathed, "I thought they were extinct." He coughed again. "You should go."

I nodded. "Thank you…Edward." A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. I turned and ran towards the ladder that would take me to the lower decks, but my ears were still tuned to Edward. I heard him set the bottle down and sigh. I reached the lifeboat and climbed in. Magnus lowered us into the water, and we set sail away from the ship. I heard the clink of him picking up the radio after Wexford's: "Helen, come in. Helen! This is your final warning."

"Oh, shut up," Edward said.

"You need to clear the target area immediately," Wexford said. Edward coughed.

"This is H.M.S. I-Don't-Give-A-Crap," he said, presumably into the radio, "If you happen to be an uptight amphibian martinet with a Napoleon complex, please bugger off. Otherwise, leave a message after the tone and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Beeeeeeep." Just then I saw, we all saw, a streak of light headed toward the ship, now well behind us. I looked away. We skimmed along the water towards the Sanctuary ship. Magnus stood up with a weapon of some kind.

"Get us closer to the boarding ladder," she called to Charles, who was steering. She fired at the ship, knocking the huge tier at the top of the ship over. "That tier was essential to the targeting system," she said to me, "Hopefully that…" she broke off, staring at the ship. It launched its missiles, though it was clear that none were aimed. They flew toward the giant spider, which skittered around the first three blasts before diving into the ocean. Magnus picked up the phone. "Declan, what's the status of the third wave?" she yelled over the wind noise.

"Still headed for Karachi," he answered from the London Sanctuary, "Estimated impact in three minutes." Magnus put down the phone. We approached the ship and one by one climbed onto the ladder. Charles, the old lady, and the rest of the crew huddled together on the deck while Magnus and I stormed into the control room. Guns cocking from all around us, "Magnus ordered, "Stand down, Terrance."

He faced her. "How dare you try to commandeer this ship." He glanced at the captain. "Arrest her."

The captain looked back at him. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say we respectfully refuse."

Wexford hissed, and then plumes on his neck exploded out. He hissed at Magnus. "Look at yourself," Magnus said, "What have you become?" she emphasized the words, eyes flashing dangerously: "It's over." His neck flaps folded back up slowly as she moved past him.

"Captain, Dr. Magnus," a man said, "We're receiving multiple reports. The third wave was stopped by a counter-wave thirty clicks offshore."

"Was it Bertha?" Magnus asked.

"Negative. She's alive, but inactive."

"Were we tracking any other abnormal sea life in the area?"

"No other information. Just calm seas off Karachi," he said, looking at her.

"Incredible," Magnus said, "Captain, set a course for Mumbai. We'll collect the rest of the lifeboats en route."

"Yes ma'am," the captain said with the hint of a smile. Magnus smiled and looked back at Wexford, who sighed and looked down. The rest of the trip was a breeze. The crew and other Sanctuary personnel delighted in following Magnus's orders; I had a feeling they hadn't liked Wexford's leadership. We arrived at the lifeboats and took on all the men that had been stranded: Wexford got more than a few dirty looks. We made good time back to Mumbai. Will and Kate greeted us at the door. My eyes shone with gladness at Will's recovery, he seemed as healthy as ever. Magnus, Kate, Ravi, and I questioned him fully about what had happened when he died, but all he would say was, "I don't remember anything."

We flew back to our Sanctuary a few days later. Magnus completed her last check up on Will. Meanwhile, we spent most of our timing in the library, looking over the data. The final counter-wave that had stopped the third wave had been caused by three earthquakes. Normally we might have put this down as a coincidence, but they were all too perfectly positioned for it to have been a natural occurrence. Try as we might, we discovered nothing on who else could have stopped that wave. For all we knew, there were other entities as powerful as Kali who had stepped in for her after she was incapacitated by Wexford's missiles. Wexford was dethroned as Head of the Sanctuary Network and Magnus was reinstated. His title of head of House was also on probation. Big Bertha was back in her containment center and had given us no trouble. She seemed to know where to go already, and settled back down on her rocky undersea domain.


	12. Giant Amphibians and BrainSuckers

**Firewall - Giant Lizards and Brain-Sucking White Creatures**

**TV-PG L**

Something was wrong with Will. I knew that much. All our missions after his encounter with Kali had gone haywire for some reason or another. Magnus had originally kept him off the mission list for the first week or two, and then added him in again. Big mistake.

On his first mission, he had forgotten his specially engineered weapon after he volunteered to use it to capture a viscous abnormal cave bear that had been plaguing the nearby woodland areas. None of our conventional guns would work; the bullets didn't penetrate deep enough and the stun blasts got absorbed by the creature's body fat. We eventually took it down by entangling it in a nearby unused power line, and Henry shocked it. It had been taken down by the electrocution, but not before each of us had a fair amount of scratches and bruises. The bear was so powerful it could knock us into a tree with one swipe. Our clothes were in shreds and Kate even had a dislocated shoulder. Will apologized significantly and we all forgave him, but Magnus stopped giving him crucial roles in our missions.

The next few missions went by with only minor mishaps: slightly inaccurate intel, uncharged weapons, things like that. We were all getting pretty impatient and worried about him by the time the next mission rolled around: an escaped shipment of worms in an old warehouse. The worms were Red-List abnormals, originally being sent to street gang on the other side of Old City. The worms secreted large amounts of this gas, that, when inhaled, caused you to see things that weren't really there. Not things like tables or cars, but shadows in your peripheral vision, just noticeable enough to distract you. We suspected this was why the gang wanted them, as a distraction for robberies and stuff. We arrived at the warehouse, and Magnus gave Will the simple job of alerting us if the gang showed up while they tried to contain the worms. She told Will he was good at this job because he had good eyesight and the best observation skills of any of us. He might be able to block out the shadows and see what was really there. He watched from the rooftop and we heard nothing on the radios from him. The gang jumped us, firing at us from the tops of crates and boxes. We retaliated best we could, but were caught by surprise. The men shot Henry in the leg a few times, and I would have died ten times over if I was human. Magnus received a long scratch across her arm as a bullet grazed her, and Kate got hit on the head with a wood plank. We finished recapturing the worms after tying up the gang and reviving Kate. Henry and Declan took the worms to the Sanctuary while Kate turned in the gang. Magnus and I headed up to the roof to see what had happened to Will. We found him, asleep, on one of the benches.

Everyone was wary after that. We all cared about him deeply, but it was starting to get hard to not be mad at him. We knew that wasn't rational, like he had _wanted_ to become host to the Makri, but it was still hard to stay patient with him. He wasn't helping either, he would lash out at us for the smallest things and other times he would fall into a deep depression or slip into a trance. Gradually, we just stopped planning lunch with him and our nightly watchings of _Stargate SG-1_ ceased to exist. Kate and I took up _Firefly_ again. Henry watched various movies he rented, such as _The Green Hornet_, sometimes inviting us but never Will. I doubted Will even knew we were doing it. He had his own problems to deal with. He was having trouble sleeping, and when he did his dreams were riddled with snippets of the great mystery: what had happened when he died. Magnus was the one whose perception of him was the least changed. We all agreed he should be taken off the mission list for his safety and ours. He had become a liability. Magnus, however, thought otherwise. She wanted to give it more time.

Being taken off the mission list was about the worst thing anyone could imagine, besides being expelled from the Sanctuary Network or dying. You got stuck with all the boring stuff: paperwork, feeding the tame abnormals, cleaning.

On the ride over to the place of our next mission, he seemed in a better mood than he had been all day, so we actually talked and laughed with him. It was glorious, like we had our Will back. I was beginning to believe he would stay like this, that the worst was over. We arrived at the warehouse. Will's job was to stake out the place from the car and warn us when the salamander was coming. Henry would prepare the net beforehand and draw it in. Kate, Declan, and I would distract it until Henry could drop the net and electrify it. We took our places: Kate and Declan on the floor, me on top of a stack of crates, Magnus on top of a large storage container. Henry waited in a hallway nearby for Will's signal. When Will had a visual, Henry would set up the net and lure it to us. It all went well until Henry left. We waited for him to come back. And waited. And waited. Suddenly we heard the loud scuffle of shoes in the hall. Henry and Will burst in, right after the salamander. The net was nonexistent. Kate and Declan fired, and I fired carefully aimed shots around the creature to keep it in one place. We had to keep it right where it was until Henry got the net up. Will took cover in a corner and Henry fired the first two pegs for the net, and then the other two. Magnus stepped forward and ordered, "Everybody get back!" She fired her weapon and a silvery net shot out, one corner on each peg. "Clear!"

Declan started across the room toward us. The creature spun around towards him. Using its tail like a whip, it tried smacking Kate. She dropped from a run into a roll, the tail flying over her head, and landed back on her feet. Frustrated, the salamander aimed its tail at Declan instead. "Declan watch out!" Magnus called a warning but was too late. The creature smacked Declan across his side and sent him flying into some barrels and boxes. He lay there stunned. "Henry Phase Two!" Magnus ordered. Down below, Henry shot two more pegs onto the floor. Magnus switched the mode on her weapon. Henry released the first two pegs and the net fall on the newest, trapping the salamander under metal webbing. "Cover!" Magnus warned. She activated the net and it surged with blue electricity. The creature let out a cry and then collapsed. "Declan," Magnus said to Henry and Kate. They ran over and supported him as he tried to get up.

"I'm all right," he protested weakly.

"No, he's not," Kate yelled to Magnus. I jumped down off the box pile and lifted the now harmless net off the salamander. I carried it to the car and loaded it in the secure transport container. I turned back and saw Will and Magnus talking as Henry and Kate supported Declan to the car. Will looked sad, and Magnus looked almost angry.

We got to the Sanctuary safely, and I helped Magnus patch up Declan's arm. It turns out it was broken, and we set it in a cast and a sling. We had just finished when Declan said, "You can't avoid this forever; it'll only get worse." I knew immediately what he was talking about. Will had had his chance at redemption but failed, though maybe not through any fault of his own. Magnus was loathe to take him off the mission list, he would be crushed. Declan and everyone else wanted it to happen a long time ago.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything for the pain?" she asked, coming over with her tablet computer under her arm.

"I want to know your plan," he said.

"What makes you think I have one?" she asked, turning to face him.

"Magnus, the rumors I'm hearing from other houses are far from good." Just then Henry came in.

"And he was on the mission list because…?" Henry asked.

"Henry, please, not now," Magnus said.

"Asleep on a stake-out, no heads up on the salamander," he pointed at Declan's arm, "Declan's broken arm." He looked at Magnus expectantly.

"Oh, it was an occupational hazard," Declan said.

"It turned out all right in the end, didn't it?" Magnus said with a smile. _No, Declan has a broken arm! _I thought, but I kept my mouth shut. Henry voiced my thoughts for me though.

He gestured to Declan's arm again. "Arm!"

"Yes, I know he's not been himself lately, but that doesn't mean we condemn him," Magnus said.

"Oh, Doc, I'm not mad; I just want to know what's going on. It's been like two weeks of this," he said.

"Henry," Magnus said, "Mumbai, was…was a lot for anyone. I thought after a few weeks putting him back in mission mode would help him refocus."

"Yeah. Worked like a charm," Henry said.

"The man was taken host by an abnormal spider, died and came back from the other side, come on, he's more than earned a bit of leeway," Declan pointed out.

"I know, it's just…It's getting worse. Temper's all over the place, he's not sleeping, he's not talking to me or Kate, Big Guy stopped smacking him in the head," Henry listed.

"I know," Magnus said.

"What do we do?" Henry asked.

"Be patient. But don't treat him with kid gloves, makes him crazy."

"Okay, done, anything for the guy," Henry said. He got up to leave. "He's off the mission list, right?" We all looked at her.

She glanced at all of us staring at her, and said, "I'll talk to him."

Henry inclined his head. "Thank you." He stepped towards the door and another thought occurred to him. "How do you like the new Magnuslinger?" he asked.

"The weapon, yes," she replied with a smile, "the name…" She tilted her head as if to say _Well…_

"Yeah, well, it's a work in progress. I'll email you the options."

"Thank you," Magnus said in fake relief.

"Magnus," Declan stood up after Henry left.

"Will's not the only one off the mission list," she told him, "You'll be alright in a few weeks."

"There are issues we need to address," Declan said. He followed her to the door. I peeled of my gloves and tossed them in the garbage.

Following, I heard Magnus's reply, "I'm fully aware of the situation, Declan, and I appreciate your concern."

"What if you lose? You're back in charge but only by a thread. People think we simply got lucky."

"Do you think this is the first time I've made unpopular decisions? The threat Forsythe posed has been eliminated, Bertha's alive and in containment, I think we're fine."

"I disagree," Declan said forcefully, "Yeah you shot out Wexford, but he didn't act alone. He had support."

"Which evaporated when he became unstable."

"Yeah, some would say the same about you. I've just mean your next move's important."

"Currying political favor? I'd rather drink coffee." I stifled a laugh. Magnus's hatred of the 'horrible brown sludge' was a well-known and well laughed over fact around the Sanctuary. In fact, Kate once made a point of buying a whole crate of coffee and brewing it. She left steaming pots all over the Sanctuary. It took days to get rid of the smell.

"Besides, there's a far more pressing question that needs answering."

"The counter-wave off Pakistan."

"Three land-based earthquakes each perfectly timed to stop a massive tidal surge from hitting the Pakistani coast? Zero abnormal activity on any scans, millions of lives saved, and no explanation! It wasn't Bertha, but it was something equally as powerful. Maybe more so."

"In the meantime," Declan said, "The conference call, tomorrow?"

"I'll be on my best behavior," Magnus said, "Promise!" The elevator doors opened. "Kate," Magnus said as we stepped inside. Declan stopped in front of the doors.

"You're in or out," Kate said to him.

"As if I had a bloody choice," Declan said with a small smile. The doors closed, and Kate stood up from leaning against the wall.

"I need money," she said to Magnus, smiling.

"Ah…" Magnus said, "How much and what for?"

"A lot," Kate said, and then quickly, "But for a good cause. I got a line on an ex-Cabal spook who was really high up on their operations before we took 'em down."

"And he knows something about the Pakistani counter-wave?"

"Not exactly," Kate said, "He claims to know of an abnormal who could have caused it."

"But he won't talk unless we pay him," Magnus said with a slight smile.

"With a Samsonite full of case. It's part of the whole new post-Cabal economy. A whole lot of info on the market if you know where to shop."

"Fine," Magnus said.

"So are we talking about the Cayman's account or the one in Geneva?"

"Neither," Magnus said.

"Oh, the private bank in Malta, excellent choice." Magnus opened her mouth to say something but Kate cut her off. "Oh, come on, you're surprised I know where all your money is?"

"No, only that it's all still accounted for," Magnus said, smiling. Kate laughed and I grinned. It was great to see Magnus and Kate getting along so well. I had heard from Henry that when Kate first arrived, they had disliked each other immensely. The smile faded from Kate a little as we kept walking.

"Umm, by the way, you are taking him off the mission list, right?" Magnus closed her eyes, sighed and didn't answer. "Right?" Kate asked. Magnus kept walking, and Kate and I fell behind.

We turned the other direction to our own rooms, which were right next to each other. We had recently had the electrical circuit essential to our old section of the residential level short out. Henry was too busy and the repair too time-consuming, so we had all moved to another section. Kate and I had become good friends here, and so we took rooms next to each other. They were even adjoined, but I kept that door triple-locked, just in case. She's a professional con-artist, remember? I'd been in her new room only once (before she made a mess again) and I saw she had the door padlocked with a strong sturdy chain. It became a game between us. She would padlock the door with a thick chain, and then at some random time I would open the door, breaking the chain easily. She'd already spent a fortune in chains and padlocks, but luckily our pay for working at the Sanctuary was pretty high. And our room, food, water, and electricity were provided for us. I just hoped the door wouldn't break. We'd have a fun time explaining _that_ one to Magnus.

We stopped in front of my door, the one three doors down and around a corner from Will's. "She took him off the mission list," I told her quietly, my hand on the doorknob, "but she wasn't happy about it." Kate nodded sadly.

"It's for the best," she said. I nodded.

"It's just so unfair. He dies to save lives and he gets taken off the mission list in return."

"I know," Kate said, her face taking on a rare caring look, "But he'll get better." She clapped me on the back with forced cheerfulness. "Goodnight Tayla."

"Goodnight."

Once I got into my room, I pulled off my jacket and hung it in the closet. Something fell out of the pocket. I bent down to pick it up. _Squeak._ I held Edward's yellow squeaky ball up to the light. It reminded me of him and what he had sacrificed for us. Sure, he had been dying anyway, but his real self had shown through when he offered to keep the ship in place while we escaped. I gave it a slight squeeze (_squeak_) and placed it in one of the drawers of my dresser. I could faintly hear the sounds of Magnus and Will talking, and on the other side of the Sanctuary Henry huffed and groaned as he carried the salamander to a secure cell. It was only eight o'clock, too early to go to bed, so I picked up my book. I hadn't had much time to read it, so I was only on chapter four. I settled onto my bed and opened the book. About half way through the chapter, my ears picked up a faint humming noise coming from Kate's room. I blocked it out, annoyed, but it just got louder and louder. Now a true buzz, the noise had an eerie aura to it. What in the world was Kate doing?

Setting down _Mockingjay_ on my bed, I crossed over to the door. I undid the three locks: the door knob key, the chain, and the sliding bar. I knocked politely before shoving the door open. It burst open with a small bang. Kate looked up from her magazine as I surveyed the mess. A huge chain snaked across the floor, broken in half. Each link was as big as my fist.

"Where ever did you get a chain like that?" I asked, momentarily forgetting the buzzing.

"Oh, just around," Kate replied vaguely. My ears detected the buzz again and I remembered why I'd come.

"Are you running a really old computer or something?" I asked, looking around the room.

"No, why?" Kate sat up.

"Don't you hear that?" I asked, still searching for the source of the noise.

"Shhh," Kate said and listened hard, "You mean that faint buzzing? It's coming from outside in the hallway somewhere." The noise got louder and softer and then faded away. Kate shrugged. "Maybe Henry's working with some new tech," she offered.

"Yeah, maybe," I said, unconvinced. I stepped over the broken chain and back into my own room, closing the door softly behind me. With the annoying buzz gone, I could hear perfectly again: the tapping of keys in Magnus's office, Will closing a medical bottle of some kind, Henry and the Big Guy walking through the hallways. I hopped up on my bed again with my book and finished chapter four. I pulled on some nightclothes and snuggled into my nice warm bed. I reached over and switched off the light, but I could still vaguely see everything. Tucking the covers more firmly around me, I fell asleep.

The next morning was bright and sunny, and for some reason I was very happy. I took a brisk early morning walk around the grounds and stopped by the conference room on the way back. Kate was already there, having gotten up at four to give the ex-Cabal agent his money and find out what he knew. Magnus walked in shortly thereafter, asking, "So, are we financially ruined?"

"With your net worth, we'll limp along another…three hundred years," she replied getting up from her chair. She held up a flash drive as she crossed over to a computer. "This was worth it." Magnus and I crowded around to look. "So," Kate began, "Counter-wave earthquakes originated on land, correct?"

"Yeah, they had to, in order to blunt the wave that was headed for Pakistan. Satellite tracking confirms the epicenter's here, along the Iranian border."

"I know I don't pay attention in class, but bertha is a sea-dwelling creature only, right? A land based earthquake isn't her MO?"

"Absolutely not," Magnus shook her head. Kate smiled.

"Then this could be huge."

"2005 Indonesia. Big hush-hush Cabal operation goes down. The bad guys are tracking an unidentified abnormal in the underground caves near Cartersuro. They get a fix, they move in, next thing you know, boom, instant strata volcano, no seismic warnings. 400 Cabal agents vaporized. The entire area is a disaster zone."

"Yes, Marapi, the volcano was considered extinct."

"Which means whatever they were tracking set it off," Kate said.

"Possibly," Magnus said, "I've heard the rumors. I thought the Cabal were testing a weapon."

"Well maybe they were trying to capture something. And it didn't like it. And I'm thinking, whatever did this, maybe it's somehow connected to Bertha, in that whole woo-woo theory you have."

"And then Wexford bombs her island—"

"She sets off a massive tidal wave—" I said.

"And mystery monster jumps in, launches _the perfect_ earthquake to stop the final wave, saves the day," Kate said.

Magnus looked thoughtful. "It's a start," she said, "But we need more. Proof that this other creature actually exists."

"You got it," Kate said, following her to the door, "So the Copenhagen account?" I laughed as I headed down to the Shu. George Cabalus was still down there. Magnus had checked up on him recently, but he was sullen, wary, and unresponsive to her. She had suggested I try, but I didn't think it would work. I mean, I'm the one who tricked him so we could capture him! Nevertheless, I entered my security passcode and the door slid open. He made no move to get up, just sat there, hunched over on his bed, head in his hands.

"I know how disconcerting this must be for you," I said, my voice unnaturally loud in the otherwise silent room. He didn't respond and I shifted uncertainly. Finally he looked up, his eyes covered in the film of unshed tears.

"How do you stand it?" he whispered, "I killed someone…and I liked it. And then I…I" He buried his head in his hands again, shoulders shaking. I reached out and touched his arm.

"But under it all," I said softly, "Under what they've made you into, is still you." I took a device similar to mine and held it out to him. He looked at it puzzled. "This will help. You'll never have to kill again."

He took it wonderingly, running his hands over its smooth surface. Noticing mine, he slipped his arm through it and brought it up to his shoulder. I hit the on switch, and he visibly relaxed.

"Better?" I grinned.

"Much," he replied with the first smile I'd ever seen him do. "Who was the woman who took blood from my arm?" he asked.

"That was Dr. Magnus," I told him, "She runs this place, the Sanctuary. She made us these devices." I held up my arm and pulled the sleeve to reveal the VPFBD again. "I'll talk to her about getting you some better quarters." He nodded and I left the room. I went looking for Magnus, but she wasn't in her office. Or her room. Or the conference room. Then I remembered she had that big meeting with the other heads of house today. I headed to the main lab since it had the most pull down screens. Sure enough, there she was with Declan by her side. All the heads of house, including Wexford, were listening to her speech about Big Bertha. I waited at the edge of the room for her to be done.

"The magnetic resonance pattern we're coating her with is keeping her in a permanent state of calm. She's happy," Magnus told them.

"All tests of the new system showed no flaws or weaknesses," Declan added, looking up at all the heads.

"Since the death of the Makri there have been no reports of aberrant behavior of any abnormals worldwide. We believe Bertha is now fully secure," Magnus said, before getting cut off by Wexford.

"I believe there is a far more pressing matter that we need to address," he said, cocking his head in a lizard-like manner, "regarding your continuing role as Head of the Global Sanctuary Network."

"Terrance," Magnus sighed, "please. If you're planning another coo, can you please do it when I'm not on a call?"

"So now you're speaking for everyone?" Declan asked him, trying to keep Magnus from alienating herself from more heads, "Mate I'd say you have no more run support than she does."

"I doubt that," Wexford replied icily, "All we did is dodge a bullet this time by keeping Bertha alive."

"Bullet? Why you obnoxious piece of—" Declan began, but was quickly cut off by Magnus. They made a good team against the other heads; they kept each other in check.

"I am beyond sick of this gamesmanship!" Magnus said, eyes flashing, "Gregory Magnus founded this organization to help abnormals. To protect them, to understand them. My father taught me that we had more to learn by protecting life, all life, than by simply destroying it. That's why I kept Bertha alive. And that's why we need to discover the power behind the Karachi counter-wave."

"You did act independently," a woman said from the right side of the circle, "and you did lie to us about keeping Bertha alive. But you also took complete responsibility for your actions. You almost gave your life to save hers. As you once said, it's what happens after a crisis that matters."

Magnus and Declan looked at each other uncertainly. "There's been a vote," the woman continued, "We wish you to remain Head of the Global Sanctuary Network. The vote was unanimous."

"With all due respect," Wexford said angrily, "I was not part of that vote."

"It was reserved for Heads of House only," she replied with no outward expression, "Your position as Head of the New York Sanctuary has been rescinded."

"Excuse me?" Wexford said.

"Also a unanimous decision," the woman finished.

"You fired on an unarmed civilian ship with the full knowledge there were people on board. You failed to report to international authorities and gave no regard to the danger of Sanctuary crews."

"Very well," Wexford said, unable to fight all the Heads' decision.

"I trust this puts this matter at rest?" the woman asked, "There are far more pressing matters at hand." Magnus was smiling now.

"Thank you, everyone," Magnus said, making eye contact with all but Wexford. They all muttered goodbye in their native language and the screens went black, one by one, until only Wexford was left. He offered no goodbye and his screen went black after one last icy look at Magnus, which I don't think she noticed. She turned and smiled at Declan. "Cheeky bastard," she told him, guessing that he had known the outcome of the vote and had a part in it beforehand.

"Guess my work here is done," he said as they walked out of the room together.

"Magnus," I called, and she turned, motioning for Declan to go on without her. "I spoke with George earlier."

"How'd it go?" she asked, a look of concern spreading over her face.

"Fine. Good, actually. I gave him his VPFBD. He should get a room on the residential level now."

Magnus nodded. "Agreed. It's good that he finally has someone he can trust." She smiled at me.

"Anyway, catch you later. I'm off to see if Henry's got that virus software update ready yet," I said.

"If you see him, tell him there are donuts in the kitchen," Magnus called after me. I laughed and headed for the kitchen. Knowing Henry, he had already sniffed them out and had snagged one already. Sure enough, I met him just coming out of the kitchen and he held a donut in one hand and his tablet computer in the other.

"Hey," I greeted him, "I was going to tell you there were donuts in the kitchen, but…"

"Yeah, I could smell those from a mile away," he answered, "I thought I'd have a snack while I cracked down on that security camera system check and the virus software."

We arrived at his lab and he set the donut (now with a big bite out of it) and the tablet down on a desk. He took all the computers out of sleep mode and reached for his donut again. The last one showed Will's bed in the infirmary, where the Big Guy was supposed to be watching him.

"Holy hell!" he exclaimed, donut bits flying everywhere. "Magnus!" He grabbed a nearby radio and told her gibberish, something about white beings from Mars sapping Will's brain out, but she got the message. I grabbed a gun off the table and took off toward the infirmary, Henry not far behind. We met Magnus and Kate on the way, and we all skidded to a halt in front of the observation window. Two white creatures stood over Will, slipping some sort of device over his head.

"Dear God," Magnus said.

"What the hell is that?" Henry gasped.

"No!" Magnus yelled. Through the glass, the creatures stopped what they were doing and looked at us. "Quickly," Magnus said, hurrying around the corner to the door and entering her passcode. The creatures almost immediately disappeared as we came through, Magnus, Kate and I forming a triangle, covering each other's backs. Henry sealed the door at Magnus's direction.

"What'd they do, teleport?" Kate asked looking desperately around for the pair.

"No, not possible, the EM shield's up," Henry said. Magnus spotted a slight movement and shot, following it across the room. Just then, Kate got knocked down by my side from an unseen blow. Henry was thrown into a wall and the door opened. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. They must have gotten through. Henry poked his head outside as Magnus ordered, "Check him." Kate ran over to the Big Guy, who was lying on the floor.

"He's okay," Kate reported, relieved. Magnus and I rolled Will over, still dead to the world from whatever sleep-inducing drug Magnus had prescribed him. "What the hell were they?"

"Absolutely no idea," Magnus replied.

Kate and I left to retrieve our weapons from the armory. I took a stunner, because I knew Magnus would want that, but I stuck a real gun in my belt. We were just rounding the corner and Kate was loading her gun when Magnus came out of the elevator.

"Stunners and tranqs only," she said, "And I want a round-the-clock watch on Will."

"Henry and the Big Guy are with him already," she informed her as she continued to load up her gun with regular bullets.

"Roof to catacombs, we're finding these creatures. And I want all Henry's tracking devices modified for their cloaking ability."

"Already relayed the order to Henry," I said, looking up from my tablet computer.

"You think they're still here somewhere?" Kate asked.

"Sure of it," Magnus answered, "Whatever they came here for, we interrupted them. You and Tayla can start the search, but without Henry's modified trackers you'll be flying blind. Be careful!" We both nodded, and she took off for the infirmary again. We went up and down three whole floors without even a trace. All my vampire traits were useless. They made no noise and left a slight scent everywhere, making it impossible to locate them. Henry eventually came with the trackers, but they went haywire too. He also came with the bizarre news that the creatures were after Will's memories. That made no sense whatsoever, so I decided to ask Magnus later.

Eventually we all met in the main lab. Henry, saying he had a plan, brought some weird looking instruments over to the table.

"So, it's all about overload with these guys," he said. "They emit this smell. Once it gets in your nose it's just like…god, it drives you crazy."

"But I don't smell anything," Will said, "Can you guys?"

Magnus and Kate shook their heads, but the Big Guy replied, "Makes my eyes water."

"A little," I answered, "but it doesn't bother me. I mean, I can't smell anything, but it's not a super-nasty smell. Not like the one you get when you open a moldy sour cream container."

"Oh, yeah, it's so bad right now I couldn't track a pastrami sandwich in the deli at lunch hour," Henry said. I looked at him, surprised. It was really that bad?

"Okay, so your noses are useless, none of our tracking systems work, we compensate…how?" Will asked sensibly.

"Modified chronographic scanner," Henry picked up a device off the table, "typically used to detect chemical weapons traces. Now, I've altered the sensors to pick up the densest concentration of, well, invisible fugly. He handed us all our scanner-sticks. "Bit of a trial and error with the calibration, kind of like tuning a guitar with your nose."

"Which looks good on your résumé," Will pointed out as he examined his scanner.

"Alright, coordinated search, stay in radio contact. Bring them back unharmed," Magnus said. "I bet you're dying for a rematch," Magnus smiled at the Big Guy.

"Understatement," he growled. We all moved off in separate directions, Magnus with Will, Kate with Henry, and the Big Guy and I on our own. I moved silently through the Sanctuary, holing my scanner out in front of me. Oddly, I encountered nothing. The entire hour my scanner only beeped once, and the signal quickly faded away again. Were they avoiding me? Just then I heard the sounds of a scuffle two floors above me. I ran up the stairs just in time to join Kate and Henry rounding the corner. We all spotted the unmoving body of one of the creatures on the ground. Kate covered it with her stunner. Another lay less than two feet from Magnus.

"Are you alright?" she asked Will.

"Are you kidding?" He threw up his hands. "I _love_ being the bait!"

"He's out cold," Henry reported from beside the creature. He lifted his scanner-stick high in the air. "And the crowd goes wild! Three words please."

"Good work Henry," Magnus replied from bending over the other one.

"We got them?" Will asked.

"Yeah," Magnus answered, "but what have we got?"

Magnus, of course, jumped right on the task of analyzing them. The rest of us shut them in secure cells and waited for her test results. Kate and I stood by Magnus and the computer while Will stood on her other side.

"Their skin has an extraordinary reflective quality which they seem to be able to manipulate at will," Magnus told us, "much like a chameleon." She turned away from the computer to look at Will. "Coincidences are piling up too thick around here. The Makri, Bertha, the counter-wave, now this! I'm sure there's a connection but we just don't have all the facts."

"Whatever memories these guys are after must have happened to me when I…you know…" his voice trailed off.

"Kicked the bucket?" Kate cut in. "Bought the farm. Crossed over."

"Rode the pale horse," I offered.

"Are you finished?" Will asked.

"Pushed up daisies," Kate said, still thinking.

"It would also explain your extreme amnesia. Repressed memories trying to surface would wreak havoc with a conscious mind, wouldn't they?"

"Hey, I've tried everything," Will said, counting them off on his fingers, "Meditation, hypnosis, even drug therapy, which I hate…" He paused. "Whatever happened to me," he began with a glance at Kate and I, "_on the other side_ isn't that easy to recall."

"Well, maybe it's nothing," Kate said, "Maybe it's a bunch of psycho mumbo-jumbo from your imagination."

"Psychologist," Will said, gesturing to himself.

"The memories will come when ready, if at all," Magnus said.

"What if it's something important?" Will asked, "What if it's something that can help you prove what started the counter-wave? Or Bertha's connectedness? I'm just saying, if my subconscious won't let me sleep, it's gotta be something big." Magnus gave a small nod.

"C'mon, let's go help the Big Guy put away the rest of that stuff," I said to Kate. She followed me out of the room and we got into the elevator together.

"So, you off to deplete the Copenhagen account and leave us all starving on the street after all this is over?"

"Maybe I won't need to," Kate replied, "But you'd make a good homeless person. People walk up to you, you slam 'em against a wall, let your claws show…you could get a lot of money."

"Not to mention caught," I said.

She shrugged and then whispered, "Depends on how good you are."

The doors opened and we walked down the hall to the armory. Our vests were still hanging out front, the sounds of grunting and shuffling inside. I pulled out a pair of grenades from one of the pockets.

"This was your vest, wasn't it?" I asked, "Why would you carry grenades to capture those creatures?"

"I like to be prepared," she answered, starting on another vest. We were done fairly quickly and went up to Henry's lab to see how he was doing. Magnus had given him the assignment of figuring out what is was and how to work it. As we approached we heard noises coming from inside: first crooning and then yelling.

"Ahhh! So not cool!" Henry told the device. "No power up command, no control interface, and somehow they're able to juice it up with a standard AC cable from our basement! I plug it in, it zaps me!"

"I think it's cute," Kate said, turning it over in her hands.

"That's great," Henry said sarcastically, "It likes you."

"Oh, come on, Hank," Kate said, "Be the genius. You said it was simple, right? Maybe you're just over thinking it. Try treating it nicer."

"I've tried nice. I've tried power surges. I've tried radio waves. I've tried sonics. I've tried air pressure! I just want to turn the damn thing on!" Kate frowned, and I knew what she was thinking. That's his version of nice? He slammed the table hard, and Kate dropped the device. It hit the table and sprung open, revealing spindly spider like legs. It glowed.

"Whoa," Kate said.

"Whoa," Henry agreed, "That's awesome."

I had just left when Magnus came over the speaker. "Fire on the secure level!" she said. I wondered what that meant. I headed for the conference room, where everyone else already was.

"This is an amazingly intuitive design," Henry was telling Will, "It actually seeks out brainwaves of a certain frequency."

"It can deliberately key in on EEG readings associated with deep memory," Magnus explained.

"What for?" the Big Guy grunted.

"Well, at its highest level? It would erase them by essentially overloading the brain with a massive jolt of electricity."

"Uhh…" Will said, alarmed, looking between Magnus and Henry.

"However," Henry assured him, "I have managed to drastically reduce the energy output."

"We think its other function is to stimulate the hippocampus in a positive manner," Magnus said eagerly, "to retrieve memories trapped within the subconscious."

"Uh, are you sure about this? I mean, didn't you just figure out how it works twenty minutes ago?" Will asked.

"Yes, but I think I have it down now," Henry said.

"He thinks," Will said.

"And I dropped it," Kate held up a hand.

"But it's fine," Henry said quickly.

"It's fine," Kate agreed.

"You don't have to do this, Will," Magnus said.

"Seriously?" Will asked, giving her a look. "Look, we need answers, let's do it." Henry placed the device on top of Will head. Will winced and we all stood up to watch.

Will's voice was flat. "I remember dying…" he began, "falling…landing…in an amazing chamber…there were two others…" he stopped talking. A minute later Henry ripped the device from his head as Will sat up suddenly. "Oh my God," he yelled breathlessly.

"Will!" Magnus said.

"He was there…"

"Who?"

"Your father!"

"What?" Magnus asked in disbelief. The next few minutes were a blur. Will answered the rampage of questions thrown at him. He even drew Magnus a symbol and told her some numbers that her father had given him for her. Magnus walked wonderingly over to her desk and picked up a small paperweight. The clear glass surface reflected the light as she turned it toward us. The symbol from her father was etched inside. "Gifts from my father," she said, a smile spreading over her face, "This one, for my twenty-sixth birthday." She looked thoughtful. "And," she said, motioning for us to follow her. She swept swiftly out of the room and we all hurriedly followed her. All of us crammed into the elevator, which creaked and groaned as we descended. The doors opened and we stepped out into the hallway. Magnus crossed over to the library and over to a high shelf. She climbed the ladder and searched the row of books.

"Let me guess," Will said, "The gift from your thirty-fourth birthday."

"Exactly," Magnus said, still concentrating on the shelf. From it she pulled a battered old book. "Here it is," she said, coming down from the ladder, "A rare first edition of Michelangelo's architectural designs."

"Okay, it's a paperweight and a book," Henry said as she neared us, "I don't see it."

"Yeah," Kate said, "I never met your dad, but is he always this cryptic?"

"Yes," Magnus, Henry, Will and the Big Guy said together.

"Last time we saw him it was about a year ago, before that a couple of decades," Henry told Kate and I.

"Well, at least he keeps in touch," I commented as Magnus opened the ancient book.

"Why make contact now?" Will asked, "I mean, we didn't even know he was still alive."

"Well maybe he's not," Kate said reasonably, "I mean, you did see him over…there."

"There has to be a connection," Magnus leafed through the book, "My father never gave me a gift without significance. He believed in the ancient power of crystals and that Michelangelo had somehow tapped into an incredibly advanced mathematical formula. She turned another page and my heart stopped. The symbol from Will's memory was right there, in the middle of an otherwise blank page.

"Hello, darling," Will said, proffering the paperweight to Magnus. She unfolded the page, revealing a grand map on our table. She reverently took the crystal from Will and placed it over an identical symbol in the middle of the layout of a city. She positioned it so the outlined etching of the symbol in the crystal lined up with the printed one in the center of the page. The crystal glowed, causing us all to take a step backward. Beams of light shot out from it to all around us, building a majestic city, with miniature buildings that ranged from knee-high to taller than us.

"Holographic?" I asked, reaching out to tentatively touch a nearby building. My hand met solid brick, like a real building would be made of. "It's real," I breathed.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kate said.

Magnus reached out and pushed a miniature blimp, changing its course easily. It didn't fall however, just kept flying in the new direction. The Big Guy stopped the train, and when he lifted his big hairy hand, the train chugged on as usual.

"Incredible," Magnus said.

"Did she just…did he just…?" Henry asked, pointing to Magnus and the Big Guy, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Just go with it Henry," Will said happily.

"Just go with…this is completely impossible?" Henry asked, still in awe of the buildings around us.

"Exactly," Will breathed. The Big Guy watched the train go by. "What is this place?" Will asked.

Magnus shook her head, looking at the city happily. "I've no idea. But this is of power and technology better than we've ever known. "

"Do you think it exists?" the Big Guy asked, still watching the train chug merrily along the track.

"If it does," Magnus said, "we have to find it, wherever it is." She gave a light laugh. "Thank you Father."

"I guess I'll be spending the Copenhagen account on something else then," Kate said. We laughed happily.


	13. Bank Job: One Egg, Two Eggs Uh Oh

**Bank Job - One Little Egg, Two Little Eggs...Oh No, Where'd They Go?**

**TV-LV**

"Are you both all suited up yet?" Magnus asked from outside the door. I opened it for her.

"Yeah, just readjusting the armband for the VPFBD. It got a little loose," I said as I tugged at it, "and Kate's in the bathroom."

"Here," she adjusted it for me as I picked the gun off my bed, "We leave for the east side of Monte Carlo in ten minutes."

"Okay, I'll meet you at the cars with Kate," I said, "I won't need my tablet, will I?"

"I certainly hope not," Magnus said with a smile. Her footsteps receded down the walkway. I stuffed my cell phone in my pocket and sat down on the bed to wait for her. The hotel's rooms were large, but we had booked it so late we had to share. Kate and I in one, Henry and Will in another. Magnus had one to herself. I rubbed my hand over the rough exterior blanket on the bed. My bed was made nicely, all the pillows put back in order and everything, but across the room Kate's was a mess. I sighed and was about to go over and clean it up when she opened the door and came out, carrying a stunner and two regular hand guns in her belt. I sighed again. "We're going to a private auction to pick up a couple _eggs_. You do _not_ need all that. We're supposed to remain inconspicuous, remember?"

"A _deadly red-list_ abnormal's eggs," she corrected me, but she tossed the bulky stunner and one of the guns back behind her into her bag. "Better?"

"Much," I said. We exited the room and I carefully locked the door behind us. I even put the Privacy Please sign on the door. What would the maids think when they entered and found all those weapons sticking out of Kate's bag? We started down the flight of steps in the early morning sunshine.

"So what's the deal with these things anyway?"

"As far as I know, the eggs are being sold by an old couple as rare works of art at this private auction. We're going to go and bid on them," I told her we reached the second floor landing.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just go and steal them?" Kate asked, hand on her gun.

"Inconspicuous," I reminded her.

"Right," she said, but she still had that criminal look in her eye. We met Magnus and the others by the vans.

"Alright," Magnus said, "We're going to go in separate groups. Look for the eggs, bid on them, and then casually alert the others to their whereabouts. I'll bid last and highest, since I'm the one who has the account to pay for them." Kate and I got into our rental car, a beat up Camry with a smashed tail light, and Kate backed us out of the parking space. We got into our three separate rental cars and Kate backed us out of the parking spot.

"You know, I really hate it when you drive," I complained as she turned us onto the freeway.

"Shut up," she muttered, eyes on the road, dodging around a Prius, and purposely narrowly missing the Camry next to it. Unlikely as it was, we made it to the auction in one piece. We got out of the car and walked up the steps to the grand mansion. A doorman waited there, greeting us and conducting us to the backyard, where many tables were set up. On their frilly pink doilies, stood glass cases holding differing works of art. Kate looked around.

"Not very worried about theft," she whispered in an undertone to me.

"Yeah, well, they only invited friends of the family here; they aren't expecting a robbery," I said back, "And let's keep it that way." Some way off, Henry and Will arrived, looking around at the tables.

"This way," I hissed, "Don't stare at them." We walked quickly over to another set of tables.

"Umm…" Kate tapped my arm. She pointed to a case with a blue-tinted egg shaped statue in it. We walked casually over and stood, seemingly admiring the piece of art.

"This is an odd way to do an auction," Kate commented, gesturing to the paper and pen on the table, "People could just replace this piece of paper at the last minute with a copy with only their name on it for the minimum bid and they could have it."

"Again: the people invited are the friends of the family auctioning off the items."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Even though you wouldn't know what friends means," I muttered under my breath. She punched my arm and scribbled down her fake name and a dollar amount.

"Look, it says here that you can bid on the identical one that's not on display here," Kate said, pointing to a notice on the case. I scribbled "Aileen Amorez" and some contact information on that sheet. We spent the rest of the time wandering the cases, occasionally commenting on the quality of certain pieces when other guests were nearby. Eventually was casually met up with the rest of the group in front of an ancient samurai sword.

"We located the eggs," Kate hissed out of the corner or her mouth as we pretended to inspect the sword from different angles.

"But one of them is inside," I whispered.

"Where's the one so I can bid on them?" Magnus asked, pretending to be immersed in admiring a nearby ruby chalice.

"Over there," Kate pointed to the table. Magnus casually walked over to the table but soon disappeared, out of sight behind the masses of people crowding around the refreshments table.

Stopping before another case, I stared inside at the vague outline of a pan. Or maybe it was a plate. "This was bad planning," I whispered the Kate, "The morning moisture got trapped inside these glass cases and now the heat has made the glass fogged up. It's getting hard to see."

"Yeah, these people aren't very smart. Virtually zero security, fogged up glass, and non-cheat proof auction sheets," she agreed. I consulted my watch. Only fifteen minutes left of the auction. Magnus better get a move on. Just then I glanced behind us. Magnus, Will, and Henry walked swiftly toward us, grim and confused looks on their faces.

"You're sure that was the right place?" Will asked as they reached us.

"Yeah, why?"

"It's not there," Henry said.

"Look," Kate said suddenly. Two black vans could just be seen pulling out of the parking lot. We all looked at each other had then headed for separate exits. We met again in the parking lot after fending off the guards asking why we were leaving early. We climbed into our cars and went speeding after the black vans. Kate was driving again of course, but she didn't pull any tricks this time, just gripped the wheel tightly. I was sitting in the back seat so I could receive hand signals from Magnus in the car ahead of us and relay them to Henry. Magnus took a hand of the wheel long enough to signal me to loop around. I turned and caught Henry's attention and relayed the message. We turned down a side street and Will followed. We turned a corner but I signaled Will to keep going straight. We were already in a residential area, not as high class as the one we had come from. At this rate, we were going to be out of Monte Carlo and chasing them through all of Monaco! We rounded another corner and saw the black vans with Magnus's silver car tailing them. The person on the passenger's side frantically motioned to the driver, and he pulled over abruptly, swinging a small black bag over his shoulder as he ran up a small alley. He adjusted his black cap as he went, the satchel swinging crazily at his side.

Car still moving, I opened my door and jumped out, rolling in a tight ball across the otherwise deserted road. I hit the curb hard, bruising my tailbone for a second until it healed. The jolt knocked me out of my tightly curled ball. I stood up and ran into the alley after the two men in black, pulling out my gun. Luckily for me and unluckily for them, they had picked an alley that went up against a building. They were trapped. I slowed my pace and heard Magnus and Henry running up behind me. The men noticed the small ladder leading five stories up the building about the same time I did. They made a break for it and the man with the bag grabbed it first. He held the satchel tightly in one hand as he climbed the ladder. I ran to the side of the building and jumped. The men, now twenty feet up, didn't even look back. The force of my jump took me up to their level. Just as I started to fall, I grabbed the satchel from the man, ripping it from his hand as I went down. He made a desperate grab for it, unbalancing himself and his accomplice. I watched in slow motion as the men toppled off the ladder, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground.

I gave the satchel to Magnus, and then watched as the men got up again. How did they survive that fall not even hurt? My vampire vision gave me the answer. As the men got up and brushed off their black coats, one of them looked directly at me. His cap was askew, revealing a single reptilian eye, surrounded by gray scales that gradually faded into normal skin. As if he knew what I was looking at, the abnormal readjusted his cap, covering the eye. He and his buddy scurried up the ladder again, leaving only a faint hiss of dislike behind.

"Come on," Magnus said, "We have to get this back to the auction and bid on it before it ends."

"Why do we have to return that one?" I asked as we ran for the cars.

"If they find out it's missing, they might call off the whole auction," Magnus answered, "We need both eggs!"

Henry jumped into Will's waiting car, which drove away as soon as he'd shut the door. I got into the front seat with Kate, who whizzed us out of there too. Magnus wasn't far behind with the egg safely nestled in her purse. We sped into the parking lot, and it was full. Magnus took the last spot since she had the egg, and Kate let me out while she went to circle the lot. Only Henry, Magnus, and I had to endure the guards' questions on why we left. Magnus went straight over to that table and deftly slipped the egg back into its fogged up case without anyone noticing. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay," Magnus said, "Where's the auction paper?"

"It should have been right there, next to the case," I said. We all looked around frantically, but it was gone. An announcement came on over the loudspeaker.

"Attention, guests. Thank you for coming. All the auction papers have been collected, and the auction is now over. Winners have been notified at their residences and can pick up their items anytime tonight." The message then repeated itself in several other languages.

We all looked at each other. All the people around us chatted excitedly as they swarmed toward the exits. "Regroup at the hotel," Magnus sighed, "We need a new plan." We joined separate lines leading out and were soon pushed, shoved, and trampled into the parking lot. Horns honked everywhere, alerting their passengers which way to go for their ride. I searched for a slightly beat up tan Camry, but there were like ten of them in that section alone. I tried to remember any other unique features of our rental car. It was pretty ordinary. Then I remembered the broken tail light. My vampire vision proved its worth once again: in a matter of minutes, I spotted the car at the far end of the parking lot.

I waded through the crowd, trying to avoid getting run over (not that it would kill me, but try explaining to the local police how I was run over and yet perfectly healthy). Kate waved at me as I got close, yelling something to me over the roar of the crowd. I put my hand to my ear, signaling I couldn't hear her, and almost got bowled over by a large gray dog for it. Its owner ran after it, waving his arms frantically. The dog paid no heed however, and kept running through the crowd, knocking people over left and right. I eventually reached Kate and climbed into the seat next to her.

"Did you get it?" she asked. I had forgotten she didn't know.

"No," I said, "We're regrouping at the hotel."

She scowled and started the car. I knew what she meant. These were incredibly dangerous abnormal eggs. Everyone was a bit tense, and our first plan going haywire wasn't helping morale. We got out of the parking lot pretty easily and arrived at the hotel in no time. We all met in the room Will and Henry shared, mostly because that's where all the computers and other tech were. We were the last to arrive, Magnus barely looking up when we entered, so great was her frustration.

"Henry, I need you to find out who won those eggs," Magnus said.

"I know Doc, but it's probably not even in their computer system yet," Henry said, "I can't find information that isn't there."

"Relax," Will advised, "Henry will get the info as soon as possible. Besides, the eggs aren't scheduled to hatch for—" He consulted his watch. "One week, two days, five hours, fifty-four minutes."

"Anything could go wrong," Magnus warned, but she sat down in one of the chairs anyway. We all waited, each lost in our own memories, as Henry searched for the necessary intel. Eventually, five long hours later, Magnus wasn't going to wait any longer.

"Henry, what have you got?" she asked, going over to him.

"I was just about to go and tell you Doc," he said, looking up at her, "The information generally isn't put into databases for security reasons."

"But?" Magnus asked, spying the gleam of satisfaction in Henry's eye.

"Out of sheer desperation I Google searched it and a link came up for a certain Mr. Jacques Prosperi's Facebook page."

"Jacques Prosperi," Magnus said, "I remember him. He was on the auction guest list."

"Exactly," Henry said, "And he recently updated his profile saying he had won an incredibly rare work of art at an auction. He even put a picture."

"Let me guess," Kate said from over the top of her magazine, "One of our missing eggs?"

Henry nodded. "And the other?" Magnus asked.

"We got nothing, Doc," Henry said.

"That's alright," Magnus said, patting him on the shoulder, "You did your best." She turned to the rest of us. "We've got his address," she said, "I'll pull some strings with the government and we will go confiscate the egg."

Kate frowned, the criminal look in her eye fading.

"Hey," Henry said, gesturing to the computer, "It says here that Mr. Prosperi is going out with his wife this evening at eight o'clock to a fancy restaurant." Henry frowned. "He must have a state of the art security system to be posting that."

"Or he's just stupid," Kate said grumpily from where she was tossing her gun up in the air and catching it again.

"All right then," Magnus said as she stood up, "I'll talk to the government."

"So what's our cover story?" Will asked.

"Contaminated item," Magnus said, picking up her cell phone. Opening the directory, she dialed a number and held the phone up to her ear. "Bonjour. Est-ce que je peux parler à votre commandant?" she asked.

I turned away. Magnus seemed to be arguing with the man on the other end. "Pas, je vous ai dit! Mon nom est Helen Magnus. Regardez cela vers le haut dans vos disques!" She was silent for a while. Finally, she said, "Merci. Vous savez qui je suis maintenant? Bon. Maintenant, j'ai besoin de cinq uniformes et…" She went on, speaking in French.

"Anyone speak French?" I mouthed to the rest of the group. They all shook their heads.

"Merci de votre coopération. J'ai besoin des uniformes satisfais maintenant. Oui, je sais où aller. Merci. Au revoir," Magnus said, ending the call. "Well, that was a hassle," she said after she had set the phone down, "But we got the uniforms. We have to go to the nearest police station to get them." She crossed over to the door. "Get ready to go. We're leaving as soon as I get back."

I literally pulled Kate back to our room to clean up, but finally our bags were packed and the beds made. Magnus stopped by our room and dropped off our uniforms, which amazingly fit right over our clothes. We exited the room looking like officers. The family outside gave us fearful looks, which I took as a good sign. We met Magnus, Will, and Henry out by a cop car.

"Wow," I told Magnus, "They really liked you!"

"Nonsense," she said, "Once he talked to the president, he was quite willing to listen to what I needed."

"The president?' Will asked. He whistled.

"I have my connections," Magnus said, smiling mischievously. We all piled into the cop car and drove to the address Henry supplied. We arrived at a fancy looking house. Magnus walked boldly up to the door and knocked loudly. "C'est le Département de Police. Ouvrez la porte!"

The door opened and an old man peeked out. He saw us in uniforms and his eyes widened. He opened the door fully but fearfully.

"Est-ce que je peux vous aider?" he asked in a heavy French accent.

"Nous sommes ici pour confisquer un objet souillé que vous avez récemment acquis. Nous avons besoin de vous pour le remettre plus de maintenant. Vous obtiendrez un plein remboursement," Magnus said in her best French.

The man looked confused. "Nous avons besoin de lui maintenant! Plus vous l'avez longtemps plus que vous placez notre pays dedans danger!" The tone of her voice startled him into action.

"Il est dans le coffre-fort," he said quickly, gesturing us inside. "Je l'obtiendrai pour vous." He returned, cradling the egg in his hands. He made no move to hand it over.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est? Est-ce une bombe? Ou une arme biologique? Ou une caisse de drogue?" he asked anxiously.

Magnus only held out her hand. The man glanced between her grim-set face and her hand. He sighed and placed the egg in it. My ears detected a little _crack_ as she pulled it toward her. _Crack._

"Ummm…Magnus?" I asked. A small gleam of light came out from a small crack in the egg. _Crack. Crack. _Suddenly the egg exploded open in Magnus's hand, showering us all with egg pieces. The man screamed and ran into the bowels of his house. Kate jumped backward and landed in a pile of coats by the door. Henry landed on a beanbag. Will crashed against the wall, breathing hard. Magnus, in panic, tossed the egg off her hand onto the ground and backed up into the closed door. I jumped straight up, hanging from a chandelier five feet up in the air. The creature, a small harmless looking purple slug, ricocheted around the room. Papers flew everywhere; an expensive vase was knocked off a desk and smashed; picture frames on the walls crashed to the ground. The creature stopped in the middle of the floor waving its tiny tentacles. Then it flew straight at Magnus, who had nothing to defend herself with. She put up her arms to shield her face as the deadly creature flew at her.

Just then, for better or for worse, the thing fastening the chandelier to the ceiling broke. A billion pieces of glass and I fell toward the ground at the same time. My friends only had time to shield their faces before we hit. I landed in a ball, protecting my face from the torrent of glass surrounding me. It shattered, and little shards of glass flew everywhere, scratching my arms and legs and tearing through my clothes. Searing pain exploded as each glass shard embedded itself in my skin, only to be absorbed a few seconds later. Finally the noise stopped, and everything was quiet.

My uniform was in shreds, the red stripe along the pant leg obliterated into a mixed purple with the blue fabric. The tiny abnormal lay dead on the floor, its body pierced with many little glass pieces. Magnus had scratches along her arms, but everyone else looked alright. My watch had amazingly escaped damage. The scent of blood wafted up to me, and a small surge of hunger overtook my body. I tensed and waited for it to pass as always, but it didn't. I turned and looked at my upper arm. The VPFBD was still there. The problem was that it had a huge piece of glass sticking straight through the middle. Magnus looked up and saw my predicament. I didn't dare move, for any slightest distraction on my part would lead to my instincts to take control. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Magnus get up and reach into her pocket, ignoring the pain of her arms. She held something out to me. I didn't look at her, fearing that seeing the blood on her arms would make me lose control. She nudged my arm with it and I finally looked down at it. It was another VPFBD. She carried an extra with her? Huh. I took the broken VPFBD off my arm and carefully strapped in the new one. As soon as it was in place I let out a sigh of relief. I smiled my thanks to Magnus, and looked around at all the others. They were surveying the mess.

"So, are we going to let the local cops deal with this, or…" Kate asked.

"We better go," Magnus said, "or we'll miss our flight." Kate nodded, and we trooped out, avoiding the billion shards of broken glass on the floor. Will scooped up the dead ferropodous into a container as he followed.

"Will, can you drive please?" she glanced down at her arms.

"Sure," he said, with a worried glance at her, "But shouldn't we get those looked at by a doctor?"

"I _am_ a doctor," Magnus pointed out, "We have to move _now_." Will, didn't move, his hand still on the car door handle, looking back at her.

She sighed. "I'll deal with it in the car, but we have to go." Will stood there a second more and then climbed into the driver's seat. Henry went up front with him since he wasn't good with blood, and Magnus, Kate and I got in the back. Magnus winced as her arm brushed the seat belt she was trying to use. Kate reached under the seat for the first aid kit. Magnus took it from her and laid it open on her lap. She selected an oddly shaped bottle and poured a clear liquid onto a cotton swab, which she dabbed over her scratches. As she was rolling gauze over the biggest one, Will asked the question that had been on all of our minds.

"Okay," he said as he turned right, "What the hell caused that thing to hatch early? It wasn't supposed to for another week!"

Magnus closed the first aid kit with a snap. "Remember the glass case this egg was in?"

"Yeah," he answered, "They were all fogged up. Poor planning."

"Yes, but why?" she asked. "When I touched that case, I almost burned myself. The case must have built up heat inside—"

"Which would have sped up the natural incubation," Henry said, "What about the other egg?"

"It was inside the cool mansion," I reminded them, "It didn't sit outside in the sun."

"Then we should still have a week and a day to figure out where it went," Kate said.

Magnus stared out the window at the passing city lights. "I only hope that's enough time…"

Soon enough, the important day came. It had been six days since the ferropodous hatched early, and we had only three days to locate the other egg before it released the terror inside. It was also important because it was September 11th, my birthday. I woke up at six thirty that morning for some reason, slipped out of bed, and dressed quickly. I took an early morning walk on the lawn. The bright sun shone down on the green bushes. A soft breeze ruffled the tree leaves, already starting to show their fall colors.

A small sprinkling of red and orange leaves lay beneath a big tree with many overhanging boughs. I lay there for a while, watching the sun rise higher in the sky. A stray rabbit hopped across the lawn. I watched it, surprised that something so regular and ordinary could be here, at the Sanctuary, the weirdest place on Earth. The rabbit stopped and sniffed a dandelion flower before daintily biting the lower stem and eating it, flower and all. It paused a second and closed its eyes. I wondered if it had a headache. Then the rabbit opened its eyes and a little spark of green fire blazed in its pupils. I should've known it wasn't ordinary. Suddenly, it morphed to a green version of itself. I was so startled I backed up into a tree branch, ripping my light jacket. The bright green faded into a light evergreen, and then disappeared completely. The rabbit, its usual brown shade, hopped gaily away as if nothing had happened. I stared after it as it went, and then got up and brushed the dirt and tree bark off my pants from my backing up into the tree.

I headed back up to my room, stopping only to say hi to the nubbins in their isolated cage. The air circulated and went through an extensive pheromone-removal process and then was cycled outside and into other parts of the Sanctuary. Didn't want the pheromones messing with anybody's brains. I said hi to Bob, who was lazing under a cooling vent, along with his twenty-three siblings. Kate can't tell him apart from the rest of the nubbins, but I can. I think. Either that or I'm just saying hi to a different nubbin each morning. Oh well.

Anyway, I then took the elevator up to the residential floor we all lived on, wondering if Kate was awake yet. I entered my room and removed the ripped jacket. I tossed it in the closet making a mental note to pick it up later and crossed over to the door to Kate's room. I knocked and heard her call "Come in!" from inside. I turned the handle and pushed on the door, which opened about four inches and then wouldn't budge any farther. Surprised and delighted by the challenge, I pushed harder, but to no avail. I peeked in the room and saw Kate watching my efforts with a satisfied smile on her face from where she lay stretched out on the bed reading a book. I stuck my arm through the crack and felt around for the chain holding the door. I grabbed it after a moment, and brought it up to look at it. It shone with a mystical, silvery sheen, and as soon as I touched it the dizzying sense of weakness overtook me.

"You…bought…a…titanium…-ion…chain?" I gasped, suddenly extremely tired from the force I'd just applied to the door.

Kate smiled smugly. "Cost a fortune," she said, "But hey, it was worth it."

That fired up my brain with an _Oh really? _

I felt around the chain, up its smooth pattern until I felt where it attached to the door. Unfortunately she had bolted it in. If I wanted to remove it that way, I'd have to rip the entire door apart. Instead, I felt along the other side of the chain. It was attached on a simple hook. I unhooked it and the chain fell harmlessly against the door. I looked back up at Kate as I swung the door open. The smug smile had fallen off her face, and she pulled the pillow she was sitting against out from behind her and threw it at me. The unexpected move surprised me, and Kate's aim was true. The pillow smacked me in the face before I could bat it away. It bounced to the floor and Kate smiled. "Happy Birthday, by the way," she said.

"How'd you know about that?" I asked, bending over to pick the pillow up off the floor. She only smiled mischievously. "You spread it all around the Sanctuary, didn't you?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," she said, "I think Will and Henry are planning some big blowout party in the conference room, and the Big Guy had double head slaps for you today."

"You didn't!" I said, mortified at the thought of all that attention.

"I'm just kidding," she laughed, "I didn't tell anyone."

"Thank God," I breathed. She tossed a small package at me, and I caught it easily. I already knew what it was, it was the Adele CD I'd been wanting.

"Thanks!" I told her, "Shall we go down to the conference room?"

"Alright," she agreed, tossing the book aside, "Get ready for the party!"

"Party? I thought you said you didn't tell!"

"We'll find out, won't we?" she laughed. I dropped her present off in my room and we started off down the corridor, Kate chattering about the party and me getting more mortified by the second.

"They invited everyone, including Aaron and his squad, and your vampire friend…they're giving away nubbins as party favors…everyone's going to be in an abnormal costume…" she went on. I caught her wrist as she started to walk out the elevator onto the conference room floor.

"You're not serious, right?"

"Oh yes, and you're supposed to give a speech. I told everyone you've been planning it for weeks. And then they're going to put on some music you have to sing and dance to. Everyone's expecting you to!" She pulled me along by the wrist dragging me toward the conference room. She stood back as I softly pushed the door open. No noise came from inside. I peeked in, and all was normal. There was no one inside. Cautiously I pushed the door all the way open and stepped inside. Nothing happened. I turned back to Kate.

"So where's—" A flicker of movement caught my eye. The oldest trick in the book. Why didn't I look up? I looked up toward the ceiling just in time to see a metal cage falling toward me. It crashed down with a clang, and the shimmery silver sheen shone in the morning light streaming in from the window. I had to go on my knees to not touch the stupid titanium cage. Loud footsteps came running down the hall and great shouts of laughter echoed through the corridor. Will and Henry burst into the room laughing their heads off, with Kate hanging onto the door for dear life.

"Oh very funny," I said, leaning toward them in the cage, "I'm gonna kill you later…"

They kept laughing, ignoring my threat. I started to smile in spite of myself. Eventually, I said, "Alright, you had your laugh, now let me out of here!"

They both regarded me solemnly, and then burst out laughing again. "Kate?" I pleaded.

"You shouldn't have gotten past my titanium chain," she scolded, "I would've helped you."

"Aw, come on!" I said. Just then, the cage started to rise. I looked up and saw a long rope hauling it up to the ceiling again. Will and Henry looked stunned.

"Thanks…whoever you are," I said. The Big Guy walked into the room as I got up from my hunched position.

"Why would you…?" Henry asked, gesturing to me, a look of pure indignation etched all over his face.

"Can't smack her through the bars," the Big Guy offered in explanation. We all laughed and headed down to the kitchen, where we ate a hearty breakfast together, laughing joyfully. When we had finished and all the dishes cleaned and put away, Henry left saying he had to get back to tracking the ferropodous egg. Will, a few minutes later, got a text on his phone and frowned. He left too, muttering something about missing paperwork for Beijing. Kate and I lounged in the comfy armchairs of the conference room, chatting about this and that.

"Really?" I asked, "You like those?"

"Oh sure," she said, "Now my turn. Gold or silver?"

"Gold or silver as in the color? Or the jewelry?"

"Jewelry."

"Should've known you were going to say that. Umm…I never really thought about it. Gold, I guess. Silver reminds me of titanium." She laughed. "Okay, animals or plants?"

"Animals. They're worth more," she answered. I laughed, and waited for her next question. "If you could wish for any three things, what would they be?"

"Hmm. World domination, mind control powers, and Amanda Tapping's autograph," I joked.

"Amanda Tapping? The woman who plays Major Carter?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, the Magnus look-alike," I said, and again Kate laughed as if she knew something I didn't. I was about to ask when Kate's cell phone rang, blaring "Born This Way" into the quiet room.

"Oops, sorry," she said, pulling it from her pocket. She held it up to her ear, listened for a moment, and put it back her pocket. I raised an eyebrow and she shook her head.

"Beijing calling about some missing files. Will's already on it," she explained, "But I should probably help him anyway."

"Okay," I replied, "I have to finish a research report anyway. Although I suspect a report on the life cycle of a vampire squid is more interesting than a report on the life cycle of a monarch butterfly, which I would be doing right about now in school."

"Yeah," Kate laughed. We left the room and I headed down to the library. I passed through the halls easily, knowing exactly where I was unlike a few months ago. Magnus poked her head out of the doorway and said, "Tayla! Could I see you a moment?"

"Sure," I said as I stepped inside the room.

She smiled at me, and said softly, "Happy birthday."

I smiled back, "Thanks." She took a small velvety box out of her pocket and handed it to me. I reverently lifted the lid to reveal a ring, gold, with a blue stone set in the middle. Two leaves held the stone in place with an intricate curve around the other side.

"Oh," I whispered, looking up at her, "Thank you!" She tugged at my arm, pulling the VPFBD off my arm. Out of instinct I held it on, but she won when she unclasped my watch too.

Sensations besieged me once again. I twisted my head as I tried desperately to control myself. In one deft motion, Magnus slipped the ring onto the middle finger of my right hand. All of a sudden all my symptoms stopped. She looked at my astonished expression and smiled.

"Like my father, gifts of mine always have a purpose. This," she held up my old device, "was a little too…obvious."

"Vulnerable," I supplied.

"Bulky," she finished, "now, you can have the rest of the day in town if you like. Oh, and keep the watch as a back up."

"Where would I want to go except here?" I asked bewildered.

"I think you should check your messages," she said. What did she mean? I check my phone every day.

"Okay…" I said. She hugged me and I left the room for my quarters, twisting my new ring around my finger. I sat down on my bed and pulled out my phone. Just as I had thought, no new messages in the last hour since I'd checked it. What on Earth did Magnus mean? I tossed the phone back up on the dresser, where it went _clack_ as it hit a bin I'd been meaning to sort through for ages. All the stuff I had from my old life was in there, a book, my old fictional stories, my old phone… My old phone! I flipped off the lid off the bin and dug excitedly into it, sifting through piles of papers. I finally came up triumphantly with my old cheap disposable phone. I turned it on and a message bubble popped up: _318 unread messages_. I sighed and flipped through the subject lines of the texts. Most of them were from my best friend, Sofia Mac. The subjects were mostly the same: _!, Where r u?, TAYLA!_. Well, you get the idea. I opened the most recent of them which read, _Tayla, if you're even checking this phone anymore, meet me today at the usual place in the park. Btw, happy birthday. _

It had been sent at midnight last night, and my clock only read 10:45. She used to get up at 10:00, so she was probably just getting there right now. I ran down the stairs, almost knocking Will over as he headed up to turn in his paperwork. I exited the Sanctuary and ran as fast as I could to the park, about twenty miles away. Normally, I would have had to slow down and walk like a normal person, but the only trace of me was the wind whipping the tree leaves. A little way from the park I slowed to a walk, skidding across the pavement and probably wrecking my shoes. People started to swarm around me; the park was busier than I remembered it. I made my way through the crowd to the fountain of a dolphin playing with a ball she loved so much. Sure enough, she sat on its ridge, head in her hands, looking glum.

"Sofia!" I called out. She looked up quickly and a radiant grin lit up her face.

"Tayla!" she screamed, throwing her bag behind her and tackling me with a bear hug. The bag landed splash in the fountain, sending up a cloud of bubbles.

"Oops," she giggled. "Where have you been? I've been so worried!"

"Uh…" I began, "Uh, around.

"I went to your mom's funeral, but you weren't there," she chattered on.

"Umm…yeah, I was tied up…" I said. Yeah, literally.

"With what?" she asked, but not waiting for an answer continued on anyway, "You haven't been in school either."

"I'm getting homeschooled," I said.

"Really? By whom?" she asked, "Were you adopted?"

"Yeah…," I said, not sure how I could explain anything to her without revealing everything. "Can we go to somewhere more private?" I asked.

"Of course!" she beamed at the thought of getting more answers. Pulling me along, she headed straight for an empty bench in a less busy part of the park. She sat down on it and placed her hands in her lap.

"Now tell me!" she pleaded.

"Okay," I sighed, "One thing at a time."

"Who adopted you?" she asked.

"Her name is Dr. Magnus, and she…she's the head of a private research facility," I answered carefully.

"Really? That's so cool! Can I visit you there?"

"I don't think so," I said, "She likes to keep her research private, and…"

"Okay, I get it," she said, slightly put out. "Is that why you're not in school this year? We all miss you!"

"Yeah, she's homeschooling me," I answered.

"She sounds awfully strict," Sofia began.

"She's great," I said quickly, "Really." She looked doubtful, but seemed to accept my judgment. "Besides," I said lightly, "the reports are much more fun than in school. What're you doing, the life cycle of a monarch butterfly?"

"Yeah," she laughed, "So not fair! What's yours on, since you get to pick your topic?"

"Oh, uh…" I wished I hadn't brought up the subject. I couldn't tell her about the vampire squid. "Uh, it's on the life cycle of…a rare species of squid," I said, hoping she wouldn't probe further. Sofia wasn't the school type.

"Ah," she said, not sounding very interested. "Are there any other teens your age at the facility?"

"Not really," I answered, but there are a lot of people with odd personalities whose backgrounds are…interesting."

"You really can't tell me anything about it, can you?" she asked, searching my face.

"No," I said ruefully, "…like I said, she likes privacy."

"Okay," Sofia said, "Will…will I see you around?"

"Well…well, this research facility, it…it's not around here," I said.

"Then how did you get here?" she asked, puzzled, "You can't drive yet, you've just turned sixteen!"

"I…" I stopped, realizing I had no good explanation for how I got the twenty miles here. "I…" What would stand up to scrutiny? "I…got a ride…from a co-worker," I said finally.

"Are they a friend of yours? Can I meet them?" she asked excitedly.

"Uh…no, I mean, I borrowed a bike from a co-worker," I stammered, "not that he drove me."

"Oh, okay," she said, "When do you have to be getting back?"

"I have the whole day," I smiled, "so, bring me up to date. Is Alice still dating Bernard, or did they break up…?"

I was so happy at five o'clock when I finally left that I made it back to the Sanctuary in a matter of minutes. Talking with my best friend had been fun, but also partially weird. I wasn't who I used to be, I was so much more. But even though my strengths had been drastically increased, my weaknesses had been increased as well. She still knew me as Tayla Casparian, and only shreds of her still existed in me. How could I expect Sofia to still like me, me with all my secrets and lies? How could I keep my friendship with her when I couldn't show her my true self? Always having to lie to her all the time? The more I thought about it, the unhappier I became. It didn't help that everyone at the park moved in groups, wearing black or red, white, and blue with sad eyes. It was 9/11 after all. At dinner that evening, it was unusually quiet. We didn't watch _SG-1_ that night and we all went to bed early.

Henry knocked on my room door the next morning. "Tayla!" he called, jerking me from my sleep. I sped out of bed and dressed. I stood in front of the door and opened it, fully dressed and ready to go in a minute. Henry stood there with his tablet, ushering me down the hall and explaining hurriedly. "I tracked down the other egg Tayla and it's in this small town near Seattle, Washington, and we have to leave right now in order to make it there in time!"

"What? Why? The egg isn't supposed to hatch for another two days!"

"Dr. Magnus thinks we should get it ASAP," he said as we reached the rest of the team. I nodded and stood by Kate as we all filed into the car. Magnus drove us all to the airport, and then onto a private jet. We made good time to Washington, and it was only eight o'clock in the morning. In Lakewood, we disembarked and Henry picked up a motor home from a nearby Sanctuary research facility. We all rode in it trying not to knock over the computer equipment until Henry let us off a couple blocks from BMM bank. Magnus had filled us all in on the way here. The person who won the second egg had stored it in her vault at the BMM bank. By a stroke of luck, Magnus had a safety deposit box here at the same bank, albeit under a different name. She would go in, get into the woman's safety deposit box with something she kept hidden in her large handbag, and get the egg. She would carry the egg out of the bank and back to Henry, who had the secure container for it. As walked down the block we fitted our ear pieces into our ears. We arrived outside the bank, and Kate looked around.

"Small towns make me nervous," she muttered.

"Why?" Will asked, looking up from his newspaper. I fiddled with my phone like I'd been told and pretended to text.

"Do I look small town to you?" Kate asked. Will laughed, and Magnus smiled.

"Right," Will said, immersing himself in his newspaper once again.

She looked through the window at the bank's interior. "Here we go," Magnus said, pushing the door open, "I'll take point." The door was opened by a young woman.

"Come on in," she said, holding the door open for us.

"Thank you," Magnus said, stepping over there threshold. I frowned, before remembering to act normal. I fixed a slightly happy smile on my face as I went in after Kate. I followed Kate to a table with Will and we sat down. Magnus crossed over to the counter.

"Good morning, how can I help you?" asked the man behind it asked. He looked suspiciously like Walter from SG-1. I was seeing SG-1 character look-alikes everywhere! God, I watch too much of that show.

"Safety deposit box number 350, please," Magnus said, reaching into her bag.

"Certainly," the man said, "Abigail Fernley…I'm going to need to see some—"

Magnus pulled out some papers and laid them in front of him. "Oh," he said after a glance at them, "Well, you're certainly organized!" Magnus smiled, but it was easy to see she was impatient to get in that vault. "Everything seems to be in order," he said, "Umm…Bridget will show you to the vault." The woman who had opened the door from us led Magnus over to the strangely gold elevator doors. After a look back at us, Magnus followed her in. The doors shut with a slight clang. The pattern reminded me of gold Goa'uld Mothership doors. I slapped myself for thinking that and Kate raised an eyebrow at me. I shook my head ever so slightly, and she resumed tapping the pen she had in her hand on the table.

"We should be out of here in no time," Will said. Waiting for Magnus to come out with the egg, I examined the other people in the bank. A cranky old lady was arguing with someone who looked like a manager on the other side of the room, the man behind the desk was typing, and a young woman was busy texting on her cell phone. An annoying _tap tap tap_ filled my ears. Will turned around suddenly to face Kate, slapping his hand down on her complementary pen. _Tap._

"What?" she asked.

"It's annoying," he said, "little bit."

"Whoa," Kate said, distracted by something above our heads. "There's a blast from the past. Norcam fixed position, black and white, no thermal tracking, and if they haven't calibrated the focus lately…"

"You sure know a lot about those cameras," Will said.

"Look at the dust on those motion sensors!" Kate said, "And there are no lasers at floor level!" Leaning in, she said, "This place is a ripe peach, just waiting to be plucked."

"I don't want to interrupt you trip down memory lane, but, uh, _we're not here for the cash_."

"_I know_," she said. Just then Magnus came on in my earpiece.

"We've got a problem," she said.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"Not only is the creature prematurely hatched, but it's escaped as well." My heart skipped a beat.

"What do you mean, it's in the bank?" Will asked.

"Worse, it's inside someone _in _the bank," Magnus said, "Guaranteed it's found a host by now. No one leaves until this creature contained."

"But…how do we quarantine a bank?" Will asked incredulously. Kate got up from the table with a look in her eye I didn't like at all. She pulled her gun from her waistband and shot it into the air.

"Everybody down!" she yelled, "This is a holdup!" She shot it again. "Kiss the floor _now!_"

Will stared at her. "What the hell are you doing?" Will asked her.

"Improvising," she said with a slight grin at me, "Get with the program, wingman!"

"I am _not_ your wingman," he said as Magnus burst through the elevator doors. She looked at Kate with her gun in the air and said softly, "We'll talk about this later." Kate smirked slightly at Will for getting Magnus's permission to keep going with the holdup.

"Alright, boys and girls, we're in charge now. Cell phones and pagers, front and center, everyone!" Magnus called in an American accent.

Will, looking like he could kill himself said, "Alright, everyone, just cooperate and no one's going to get hurt, come on, into the corner here, let's go."

I held my gun aloft and watched as people swarmed toward the corner. Kate passed by the man at the front desk and pointed her gun at his chest.

"Hey, hey, hey, show your hands!" she said. He meekly lifted them into the air.

"Rule number one," Magnus said, pointing her finger at him, "No heroes." Kate pulled him out from behind the desk and pushed him into the corner.

Kate sighed, "He probably tripped the alarm."

Magnus aimed her gun at the security camera and shot it down expertly, causing the people to scream. We then went around shutting the blinds and Magnus slipped the open sign to closed. Kate pulled the manager over at gunpoint and made him lock the door, blubbering the entire time.

"We just got a debt reserve picked up yesterday," the man said, "You…you won't find much in the vault."

Magnus held out her hand for the keys. The man hesitated and then looked at her face and dropped them into her hand. "Get over with them," she said. Turning away, she rolled her eyes at me and I almost giggled. Magnus met Kate and me by the counter.

"Crank up the air conditioning," Magnus instructed Kate, "The cooler the host is, the slower the gestation."

"Okay," Kate nodded and walked away.

Will exchanged a "how did I get into this" look with Magnus as he walked by.

"Please, remain calm," Will said to the group, "And uh, take a seat. It's okay to…take a seat." The people shuffled into chairs, leaving just one behind, the old lady.

"Hey, junior," she called, "I gotta pee." He stared at her. The old woman cocked her head. Will sighed and led her to the bathroom with a "thanks a lot" look at me. I turned away to keep from bursting out laughing, despite our situation. Magnus was talking to Henry through her earpiece, and Kate was looking out the window. I crossed over to her and asked, "What will happen if the ferropodous gestates before we locate it?"

Kate looked at me. "It'll explode out of the host, and then eat us all," she said.

"Ah," I replied, "Pleasant."

"Magnus will find it," Kate said. I looked around at the group, sitting in their chairs, thinking their lives were in danger. And they were right. But not from us. Fiddling with my earpiece, I managed to listen to Magnus conversation with Henry, outside somewhere.

"ETA?" he asked.

"Conservative estimate? Forty-five minutes," Magnus answered, "Any longer than that and the embryo will grow to a size where extraction is impossible."

"We need to find a way to pinpoint the host…" Magnus continued. I stopped listening then, distracted as one of the people got up and came toward Kate. Knowing this wouldn't go over well, I stepped in front of Kate before she noticed, my gun pointed at the old woman's chest.

"That's close enough," I said. She looked at me. Over the top of her head I could see all the others watching me, some bold enough to shake their heads that someone as young as me was running with a couple of bank robbers.

"I gotta pee," the old woman said. I sighed. How often were we going to have to do this? She just went to the bathroom with Will. I led her across the room, pushing the pile of cell phones over to the side so she wouldn't try and sneak one under that bulky coat of hers. It was hard to keep track of what was happening, Magnus and Henry's voices kept buzzing in my ear and the old lady, who I learned was Grace, kept yammering on about how she always knew this bank would get robbed someday. "Just knew it," she muttered. I pulled her along toward the bathroom at the back of the facility, checked it for possible means of escape, and then let her do her business while waiting outside the door. After what seemed like an incredibly long time, she came shuffling out and I guided her back to her seat.

Kate was futzing with a panel of wires behind the wall, and my earpiece was blissfully silent. "Status?" Magnus came up behind us.

"I was right, we're busted," Kate said.

"Damn," Magnus said, taking a quick glance at the hostages.

"I'm guessing the local response time for a town this size is…" Kate consulted her watch, "five minutes, max."

"We'll never be able to isolate the host in that time."

"Well then we better hunker down then. The feds won't be far behind. We're only twenty minutes from the Seattle field office."

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Magnus said sarcastically.

"Want to call in some markers with your bros in Homeland Security?" Kate asked.

"Not this time," Magnus answered, "We're dealing with an incredibly deadly red-list abnormal. I'm not prepared to share it with anyone, let alone the government."

"Just us chickens," Kate nodded.

"I'll be counting on your expertise today," she said softly to Kate, who nodded solemnly.

"Alright. I'll go make sure this place is airtight," Kate promised.

"Tayla," she said, turning to me. "Would you please help her? I have Henry."

"Okay," I agreed, and followed Kate. She started making the hostages get up from their seats and felt their pockets, making sure they weren't hiding anything. She confiscated a small pocketknife from one man, but no one else had anything to hide. Will came in with the manager, whose look of distress said Will had been successful in getting into the computer.

I watched carefully as Kate inspected the next girl.

"Arms up," she ordered.

"You already have my cell phone," the girl said as she did as ordered.

"Just making sure there's no surprises," Kate said as she patted the girl's arms and legs. "Alright, you're clear," Kate said, and was about to move on when the girl stepped closer to her.

"Are you and he…?"

"Who?"

"That guy you came in with."

"Him? No!"

"Oh."

Kate stepped closer and said softly, "He killed his last girlfriend. We still haven't found all the pieces."

"Really?" the girl asked eyes wide in admiration.

"Yeah. Sit down." Kate said exasperatedly. Before screening the next person, she gave me a huge eye roll and I had to turn away to keep from giggling. By the time had had become "bank robber" enough to turn around again, she was on to the next person.

"Look, why are you taking hostages?" he asked.

"We're lonely," she answered.

"There are no cops yet, you could just let us go and you and your guys could rob the bank."

"Did I ask your permission?" Kate asked.

"Clearly you're a smart woman. But you gotta to know, these situations rarely end well."

She tapped the gun against his chest. "Passed the Psychology 101, huh? Create an emotional bond with your captor. Compliment them. Connect with them on a personal level. And maybe," she breathed the last words as she moved the gun to the base of his throat, "they won't kill you."

The man's smile was strained. "You can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

"No," Kate said, removing the gun from his throat, "But if you don't sit down and stay quiet, I will blow your head off."

"Sitting down, thank you," he said, lowering himself onto the seat.

Kate looked around and sighed before moving on. I turned to see Magnus hanging her head as she listened to Henry on her earpiece. Something must have gone wrong. Will motioned through the glass for Kate and me to come into the office. Kate watched the hostages through the glass as Will pulled up the security footage.

"You're right," he said, staring at the screen, "This video is just about useless. I mean, I can barely recognize us, let alone spot a tiny ferropodous slithering across the floor."

"Well it was a shot," Kate said.

"You better delete the video so the cops can't use it," I suggested.

He nodded and said, "Good idea but not until Magnus says so, in case we missed something."

"Okay," I agreed. A few seconds later, Magnus came in.

"I need to send you two on a scavenger hunt. Tayla, I want to speak with you and then you can join them."

"I love a good scavenger hunt. By the way, this video is pfft," Will said, gesturing to the computer.

"I don't get it, wouldn't somebody have felt this thing?" Kate asked, looking away from the hostages.

"The temperature of a newly hatched embryo is 98.2 degrees—so close to human body temperature that you'd never even feel it on your skin," Magnus explained.

"Allowing it to slip into its…orifice of choice," Will concluded. Magnus grimaced slightly at the word, and then said, "Until the gestation is nearly complete, there are virtually no outward symptoms."

"Then what are we scavenging for?" Kate asked sensibly. Magnus looked out the glass and disbelieving expression of doom came replaced the usual calm look on her face. We all looked back out and saw a young woman, getting up from her seat with her hand raised, like when you have to go to the bathroom in kindergarten. Kate signaled for her to come and the girl nodded and moved toward the door, holding her stomach. After exchanging a glance with Magnus and Kate, we rushed out into the main room. The girl leaned against the armrest of the couch, every one of the hostages staring after her.

"I don't feel good…" she said.

"Sit down," Kate said, and placed her hand on the woman's head.

"Dear God, it can't be happening already," Magnus said to Will.

"She's burning up," Kate reported.

"What do you think?" Will asked.

"Well if we can get her out before—" Loud sirens interrupted her. The police had arrived. Everyone looked toward the door. Magnus and I went over and lifted the blinds just enough to look out. The hostages looked around as the sirens wailed, expressions of wonder and hope suffusing their faces. At least three police cars pulled up next to the front lawn in front of the bank. Magnus looked back at me, an unspoken message in her eyes. Kate joined us, and I think Will sighed. The bank phone rang, and we all arrived at it.

"Right on schedule," Kate said, standing by it. Magnus picked up the phone, holding it at arm's length.

"Hey, I know the playbook, They wrote it for people like me," Kate said.

Will sighed. "Cop," Will pointed out.

"Robber!" Kate said.

Magnus held it out to Kate. "It's your show. Stall for time." Kate nodded happily. "If Bridget is indeed the host, the last thing we need is more innocent people storming in here."

Kate left with the phone, and I followed her, curious, listening hard. "Five and a half minutes," Kate said, crossing over to the window and lifting the blinds a little, "Long line-up at the donut shop?"

"Huh," the man said in a dismal attempt at humor, "Good morning. This is detective Michael Bronson. I understand we have a bit of a situation here."

"Yeah, I'd say so," Kate said, letting the blinds snap back to their original position, "Seven hostages, no injuries, and if you want to keep it that way, I want: a chopper…and a thirty minute head start with radio silence, and…two tickets to the next Eddy Izzard's show." She hit the end button on the phone. "That ought to keep 'em busy for a while." I grinned at her and she smiled back.

"Surgery?" Will asked as I listened with my vampire hearing, "Here?"

"I've operated in the trenches at Verdun, at least here I don't have to deal with the mud and the rats!"

"Well, when you put it like _that_…"

"Before we risk her life, I need to be absolutely certain," Magnus said.

"Come on," Kate said, breaking me from their conversation, "I have an idea." She led me over to the desk drawers and started pulling out papers. "Get out your iPhone." I pulled it out of my pocket and held it, unsure what to do with it. "Aha!" Kate said triumphantly, making many of the hostages jump. She held up at stack, a notebook really, and slapped it down on the desk. "Building plans!" she said happily. I must have looked confused, because, she added, "_How we're going to escape_."

"Oh," I said, comprehending. She flipped it to the back and held up her own iPhone. She held it above the blueprint and took the picture. I took a second, in case we got separated. We flipped the page and repeated the process. About halfway through, Will came into the room. The doofus girl who had asked Kate about Will earlier, got up from her chair.

"Excuse me," she said shyly.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever…shot anyone?"

Will hesitated before saying, "Uh, yes." He turned away and started toward us.

"Wait! What—what was it like?" the girl asked, getting closer to him.

"It was awesome. Go sit down," he said, pushing her back to her chair.

"Ooh," one of the hostages said, "He's dreamy." The girl looked at him hurt. He came over to us with no more interruption.

"So, how's your new girlfriend?" Kate asked as she flipped the page and we both took pictures of the next blueprint.

"She's obviously crazy, just my type," Will sighed, "Uh, Magnus needs us to find a retinal scanner."

"With the backwards security in this joint?"

"Well, all we need to do is find something that captures and transmits reflected light. Henry will walk us through the rest."

"Alright," Kate said, taking another picture of a blueprint. The phone rang and Will pointed to it.

"It's for you," he said. She picked it up.

"Yeah," she said into the phone.

"Just wanted to let you know: the helicopter you requested? It's on its way," said the detective.

"Really? So, you called your captain, he relayed your request to the FBI, who contacted Homeland Security, who in turn cleared a flight path with the FAA and they commandeered a chopper that is supposedly already in the air all in three minutes? Jerk me around again and you'll regret it!" Kate slammed down the phone. Will almost smiled.

"It frightens me, that we're co-workers," he said to Kate.

"Good!" she said happily, "So. I emailed a copy of these blueprints to Hank, and Tayla will send them to you and Magnus."

"Why?" Will asked.

"Because," Kate explained, "In 1994, the bank added a new restroom. 2002, the miniscule sewer system laid a new pipe on the east side of the building."

"Brilliant. So…we're going to escape through the toilets," Will said.

Kate shrugged. "Possibly." I took the last picture and emailed them all to Magnus and Will. They had already started their search for a retinal scanner, and were pulling open drawers and file cabinets.

"Henry?" Will fiddled with his earpiece and I adjusted mine too. "Yeah, we got a whole lot of nothing here. Except for…" Kate held up a stapler. "A stapler, a laser printer, an adding machine…"

"Oh, and stacks and stacks of cash," Kate said, running her hands over it, "There was a time where that would have been enough."

Will pulled something from a nearby shelf. "Hey, this is a counterfeit bills scanner, which uses reflected UV light.

"Yeah, that might work, with a little tweaking" Henry said, "And a smart phone with an unlimited data plan." The hostages watched us worriedly.

Kate dropped the bag full of their cell phones on the table. "You know, if this doesn't work…" Will said.

"Well, I can only stall the local cops for so long. The feds have even less patience. Hey, I think I found one that might work. Talk to us Henry."

"Pry the back off," Henry instructed, "get to the circuit board."

"Done," Kate said. I looked on interestedly. I had always wondered what the inside of a phone looked like. "So now what?"

"Say a prayer," Henry replied, "Tayla, find a roll of duct tape."

"I think there was one over there," Kate offered, still fiddling with the phone. I crossed over and pulled open the drawer she had gestured to. Sure enough, five big rolls of duct tape were inside and I pulled one out and tossed it to Will. He caught it easily and pulled off a strip.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Kate, do you see two red wires intertwined on the screen side of the phone?" Henry asked, "Take the back off the scanner and find two identical wires. Snip them both and attach the cut wires on the side closest to the middle to the snipped ones on the smart phone on the phone." I held the phone steady as Will cut the wires on the phone and Kate pried the back off the counterfeit bills scanner. We attached the phone and the scanner together and made sure it stayed with duct tape.

"Is that it?" I asked Henry, "It seems too easy."

"I don't know if it'll work," Henry said, "but it's the best we've got. Will, find out the number of that phone."

"It's 692-7138," Will said, flipping through something on the phone.

"Okay," Henry said, "I'm sending you the program now." The phone made a beep sound and the screen on it changed to black with blue code on it.

"Here we go," Will said, carrying it to Bridget, who was still lying down in one of the offices. He held it over one of her eyes and it appeared in blue.

"What is that thing? What're you doing to me?" she asked frantically.

"Relax, it's okay," Magnus said in that American accent.

"Transmitting now," Will said.

"I see it," Henry said.

"Good, if it works we can scan the rest," Magnus said.

"It's been a while since our last call," Kate said, looking away from the hostages, "They're going to be getting antsy."

"Yeah, give me a few minutes, this baby doesn't have the juice of my main frame back home."

"Sooner is better," Magnus told him.

"Aww, come on sweet pea…" Henry told the computer. There was a silence. "Uh, did you guys just—"

"Yeah," Will said, "Yeah, we all heard that."

"Awkward," Henry said. The phone rang, saving Henry from further humiliation.

"Like clockwork," Kate said as she went to answer it. I followed her, keeping a careful eye on the hostages as she was busy. The old lady, Grace, had another man's coat on and looked cold. I guess I hadn't really noticed the temperature drop being a vampire.

"So," Kate told the police, "Have we learned our lesson?"

"We're working hard to meet your demands," the guy on the other side said.

"That's better," Kate said.

"But I need your help. Let a hostage go," he said.

Kate looked around at the hostages, who stared back at her wide eyed. "I'll think about it."

"I need to know everyone in there is safe."

"Or else your guys will come in through the ceiling, I know the drill," Kate said matter-of-factly, "Just make sure you keep up your end of the bargain." She put down the phone and fingered her earpiece. "Hey Hank," she said, "What are the chances of rounding up a monster truck with a bad-ass winch?"

"Uh," Henry's voice came through her earpiece, "It's possible. Passed a salvage yard on the way into town."

Kate smiled. "Good." She pulled the blueprints off the table and replaced them in the drawer. A younger man watched her as she slipped them back in.

"What're you looking at?" I asked, gesturing to him with my gun.

He looked away quickly. "Nothing." Bridget came out from the back. She was clear, apparently. I twisted my earpiece to talk to Magnus.

"Magnus," I said.

"Yes?" her voice came through, slightly stressed out.

"The police want us to send out a hostage," I answered.

"You know we can't do that, Tayla," she answered, "We haven't had time to isolate the host."

"Send me," I said.

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Send me out as a hostage," I repeated, "To buy time. I can feed them misinformation. Whatever Kate says will slow them down."

"It's too risky Tayla," she answered immediately, "For one thing, what happens if we isolate the host? We would have to release the rest of the hostages, who would give you away."

"I guess so…" I said doubtfully.

"The police aren't an immediate threat yet. If it comes to that…"

"Okay," I agreed. She cut off the transmission and I turned back to where Kate had been a minute before. There she was, over by the window, looking out at the cops. I walked over under the frightened eyes of all the hostages.

"They doing anything?" I asked as I neared. She let the blinds snap shut.

"Hard to tell," she replied. I twisted the gun on my belt to a more comfortable position, and, as I did so, I caught a glimpse of something. Something green, over where the hostages were. I blinked and looked again and it was gone. I crossed the room to where I had seen it and stopped in front of the young man and the desk clerk. They both shrank back in their seats as I approached. I scanned the area carefully, looking for any sign that I hadn't just imagined the green thing. Nothing. I sat down in a chair next to a small table and pulled the gun out of my waistband and set it on the table. It was really hurting me in my waistband. I'd have to get used to that. I tweaked my earpiece to hear what was going on.

"We know the ferropodous needs a calm chemical environment in which to fully gestate," Magnus began, "Perhaps there's a way we can counteract that."

"How?" Will asked.

"A toxin," came her answer, "Not potent enough to harm a human, but strong enough to force the ferropodous to vacate its host."

"Is that wise?" Will asked.

"Well, if we can get it out before it hatches on its own the host could survive."

"Yeah, that's sounds reasonable," Henry said, "Oh wait me?"

"You can do this," she reassured him.

"No! No no no! I'm the geek, you're the doc. I do tech, you do drugs." There was a pause. "You know what I mean."

"No time to argue, I'll walk you through the procedure," she said.

"Supposing he can whip up a toxin, how's he going to get it to you?" Will asked.

"First things first," she sighed, "Go to my medical cabinet. Follow my instructions precisely." Kate tugged my arm, pulling me toward the elevator.

"Stop!" I hissed at her, "I want to learn how to make a ferropodous toxin!"

"The toxin isn't going to do us any good if he can't get it to us!" she argued. I gave up and let her pull me into the elevator. It started moving down slowly.

"Okay, so what's your idea?" I asked as we stepped out. She entered the vault.

"You remember those blueprints we took pictures of?" she asked breathlessly.

"Uh, yeah," I said, pulling my phone out. "These."

"Exactly. The new sewer pipe, Tayla! Don't you see?"

"…No."

"Okay, remember how they added new parts to the bank in year something-or-another and reinforced the door?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, this is the original vault, made of concrete."

"Yeah. Remember why they never reinforced the other walls?"

"In 2002, the miniscule sewer system laid a new pipe behind there," I started to catch on.

"Exactly. That," she pointed to the wall, "is a concrete wall, behind which is the sewers!"

"I'm just glad you weren't suggesting we escape through the toilets," I laughed.

"So, if Henry manages to round up a truck…"

"He can blast through that wall…"

"Give us the toxin…"

"And save the day," I concluded. We headed back up through the elevator. Kate stood by a table looking through a cup for a suitable pencil. Just then, one of the men got up from his chair. Sean, I think. I'm pretty sure that was his name. Anyway, he went over to Kate, who pointed her gun at his chest.

"That's close enough," she said.

"Look—the old lady, Grace, she's really cold, said something about her heart. Can't you at least let her go?"

"Can't do that," Kate said, glancing over to Grace, who did indeed look cold.

Sean looked at her, hurt. "It's funny," he said, "You know, the first time I saw you, I thought you were beautiful."

"Sit back down," Kate said, hiding her emotion. He backed away and took his seat next to Grace. Kate looked down and then at me, and I could tell she didn't like what she was doing.

Before she had too much time to dwell on it, however, Magnus and Will came over.

"Now that Bridget has been clear, I think she'll be safer on the outside," Magnus said.

"She may be, but right now they're blind. We release a hostage, and we lose that advantage," Kate said.

"They'll know numbers…and our less than blood thirsty attitude," Will said.

"I know," Magnus replied softly, "But if I can save another life today, I will. Make the call."

Kate, to my surprise, didn't argue. She dialed the phone with all the hostages watching. "You," she said to Bridget, "Come with me." Bridget got up and walked toward Kate, and the manager, worried, stood as well. Kate held the phone. Magnus and Will stood by the door and Kate had her gun on the girl's back. She hit the call button and held it up to her ear.

"This is Special Agent Bruce Tanner, FBI," a different man said.

"You made good time from Seattle," Kate said.

"Who am I speaking with?" the special agent asked.

"Someone about to release a hostage," Kate replied, "Let's make this smooth." Bridget looked up, hardly daring to believe Kate was serious. The manager looked shocked and jealous, and all the hostages were whispering to each other.

"1…2…3," Will said. He and Magnus swung the doors open and Bridget rushed out toward the police. But then everything went wrong. Before they could shut the door, the manager made a break for it. Caught by surprise and without much time to react, Kate and I pulled him back, and Magnus and Will struggled to close the door. Sean went for the door as well, and somewhere a gun went off. Then another. A sharp pain seared my lower ribcage. Kate and I heaved hard and we all landed on floor. Magnus and Will successfully slammed the door shut.

Will bent over a gasping Sean. "Are you hit?" he asked frantically.

"Is everyone alright?" Magnus called. I felt my side, which was painful and slick and warm. I could tell from the look in Magnus's eyes she knew I was hurt. She discreetly shifted her jacket. What was she trying to tell me? Then I realized. I pulled the edge of my jacket over the wound, obscuring the wound until it healed. It sure was taking a long time. Will pulled Kate up.

"I'm good," she said, scrambling up herself. He pulled me up from the ground and accidentally hit my rib. I winced I knew in his eyes he knew I was hurt. Nevertheless I pulled myself up, trying to ignore the spinning world.

"I'm okay," Sean said shakily from the floor, but one look said otherwise.

"No," Will said, hurrying toward him, "You're not." His arm showed a long red mark and there was blood on the floor. A rivulet dripped down my leg. What was wrong with me?

Magnus pulled off his tie and tied it around his arm quickly. He was breathing heavily in short gasps. "Take it easy," she ordered, "No sudden moves. There. That should slow down the bleeding. Hold it tight." Sean gripped it with his other hand. "Relax. You'll be alright. I'll be right back, okay?"

Will knelt down holding the scanner. "Hang in there, you're gonna be fine," Will said, "Okay, look right here." He held the scanner up.

"What's that for?" Sean asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Will answered. Kate approached Magnus.

"So, Bridget's release. It probably bought us a few minutes, but you know we're going to lose Hank. They're going to find out we're on our cell phones, they'll either jam us or trace Hank, and once they cut off the power, which they will, we're going to be cut off from all communication," Kate said.

"Then we need to scan the other hostages right away and get the data to Henry," she said.

"Alright. And what about—"

"We can't release him until his scan results are back," Magnus said.

"Yeah, but we can't just let him bleed to death!" Kate objected.

"I don't intend to. Find me a first aid kit and some instant glue."

Kate looked at her weirdly but didn't question it. "Okay." My side still stung and I couldn't figure out why. Magnus was busy with Sean, and there was no way I could let her know what was going on without alerting the other hostages. What would they say if they knew I was injured and then found out I healed? I leaned against the table for support, vision swimming. The constant chatter didn't help any. I left the room to find quiet in the office. I lifted my coat from my side and looked down. My shirt was stained a dark red, and it was blossoming rapidly. The police couldn't have titanium bullets. Could they? Extending my claws took a huge effort. I eventually resorted to just one nail and hooked the bullet out. I rubbed the blood off and examined it carefully. Not titanium. A regular bullet. I had healed through millions before. Why now? I grabbed a scarf off a nearby chair and tied it skillfully as a bandage. I shook my jacket over it. Better. I headed back outside and something caught my eye. Red. I wonder. Sean's blood from his arm wound on the floor. No one was paying any attention to me. I walked casually over to the spot and, quick as thought, reached down and brushed my fingers against it. Following my instincts, I flicked out my tongue, licking a bit of blood off my finger. I'd forgotten what it tasted like. New energy flooded my body. Energy I hadn't had since my Cabal days. Energy I hadn't realized I lost. I sucked my finger, determined to get every last bit of the life-giving liquid. Immediately I felt better. My vision cleared. The buzzing left my ears. The wound on my side healed and I straightened up.

The young man interrupted. "Are you tryin' to kill us by freezin' us to death?"

"Hey!" Kate yelled, pointing her gun at him as he approached Magnus.

"It's all right. I apologize for the temperature," Magnus said evenly, "Please return to your seat."

"If you're gonna rob the bank, get on with it," he said.

"Sir," Will tried, "Just calm down and take a seat with the others."

"I've been sitting on my butt, waiting for something to happen, but you just keep dinking around," he glanced down at Magnus's gun, "I'll bet you don't have the guts to shoot me. What's to keep me from walking out the front—"

Magnus hit him across the face with her fist, knocking him to the floor. Kate gave her a "well done" look, but Will was not so pleased. He stared at Magnus like he didn't approve, and she brushed past him without comment. Kate resumed treating Sean and Magnus, after a few words with Henry, dropped down beside her.

"Temp normal," Kate said.

"Good. I'll take over," she instructed, "There's been an interesting development." Kate nodded and Will motioned for her and me to come into the office. We complied and soon saw he was holding an odd case-bag type thing. I was pretty sure it wasn't his.

"Is that…" Kate asked, obviously recognizing it.

"Yeah," Will sighed, "A transport container with a homing beacon."

"Oh great," I said, "We're not the only ones after the ferropodous."

Kate picked the cell phone off the table. "Pretty high up too, sophisticated," she said, turning the screen toward me. Amid a jungle of green lines a red dot blinked.

"Do we know whose this is?" I asked.

"No," Will answered.

"What does Magnus want us to do about it?" Kate asked.

"Nothing," he replied, "There's nothing we can do."

"Okay," I agreed. Kate and I left the room, jumping up on a nearby table with a clear view of all the hostages. Kate pulled a complimentary pen from the bin and began tapping it again. _Tap. Tap. Tap._ Magnus left with Grace, headed toward the bathroom. _Tap. Tap. Tap. _Trying to block it out, I extended my hearing to see what else there was to listen to. A couple blocks away, some guy was listing to his iPod, but that wasn't what I was looking for. Magnus's voice, extremely loud when I was listening so hard, burst through.

"Show me your wallet." This should be interesting. There was shuffling sound and then Magnus again. "Out of state driver's license," she commented.

"I just moved to town," he replied.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I guess you could call me an…entrepreneur," he offered.

"With one, two, three platinum cards," she counted off, "Wow, business must be good."

"Dad owns a lot of real estate," he replied, "Why do I suddenly feel like a criminal here?" I could tell now. She thought he was the bounty hunter. Kate slipped off the table.

"What kind of time we got?" Will asked.

"Figuring Magnus's original calculation, ten minutes and counting," she replied, looking at her watch. Will's phone buzzed.

"Oh great," he said, holding it up, "Henry's busted."

"Perfect," Kate sighed, "So we're on our own. And if my sense of timing's right…" The lights shut off. "…there goes the power," she finished. Kate sighed, looking around at all the hostages. "Things are about to get ugly."

"It's already getting warmer in here with the AC off," Magnus said, "Not good for our potential host."

"Once they cut off the power and the water, they'll make one more attempt at negotiation before they break off all contact," Kate said.

"Do you think they'll take the offensive?" Magnus asked.

"Well, it's standard protocol," Kate said, "They're not going to wait around to starve us out. If we don't make a move soon, they will."

"Without Henry's scan results, we've no idea who the ticking time bomb is," Magnus said. "Hey!" she said suddenly, staring behind me. I turned to see the desk clerk looking up guiltily. "What're you writing?" She strode toward him.

"Uh—nothing," he answered shakily.

"Hand it over." He glanced at the guy sitting next to him and looked up at her again, holding out the paper. Over her shoulder, I could see what it read.

_Last Will and Testament_

_I, George St. George, being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath upon my sudden and violent death, all my worldly possessions, including but not limited to:_

_-1998 Chevy Lumina with snow tires and detachable Fuzzbuster_

What the heck was a Fuzzbuster? Maybe I was reading it wrong.

_-My entire collection of antique _something something_ garden gnomes_

_-_something_ programme from _something_ concert_ something _authentication_

The rest was indiscernible by a combination of Magnus's fingers covering it and bad handwriting.

"Your will?" Magnus asked.

"It was," he sighed, "just in case."

"Just sit still, don't make any trouble. You'll live, okay, buddy?" She handed him back the sheet of paper and walked back over to us.

"I knew that British accent was fake," he hissed to the young man, Dave I think, next to him. The look on Dave's face wasn't smiling though. It was thoughtful. Did that mean something to him?

Kate's cell phone rang. She crossed over to the door, looking through the blinds. She almost yelled into in, causing most of the hostages to jump. "What the hell are they teaching you at Quantico these days? Your guys shot one of the hostages!"

"That was an accident," came the reply, "You people had a gun pointed at a civilian who was clearly in distress. How did I know you weren't going to shoot?"

"Any more tricks like that," Kate threatened, "and we will."

"You know we've got your guy out here," the guy on the other end said, "He's got a lot to say." Adrenaline rushed through my body. They had Henry?

"Then you must have the wrong guy," Kate said forcefully, hitting the end button hard. She set the phone on the charging station and crossed back over to us. "They're getting more nervous with each passing minute."

Grace raised her hand. "I gotta pee!"

"See what I mean?"

Magnus, Will, and I looked at each other. "Your turn," we said in unison. Kate groaned and turned around, sticking her gun in her waistband.

"All right," she said, "Let's go."

"You know, Kate's right," Will said, after she had left, "The hostages are getting more restless. Except for one."

"Sean," Magnus nodded toward him.

"Either he's very good under pressure," Will began.

"Or he knows who we are and why we're really here," she said. Her phone buzzed. "From Henry," she told us. "Grace is clean, as are Thomas and Cheryl."

"And…?"

"The feds shut him down after that," Magnus replied.

"Of course."

"One more thing," she said, "Salvage operations are a go." Kate walked back and Grace returned to her seat.

"Good news, now four hostages have been cleared," Magnus informed her.

"Bad news, four possible hosts remain," Will said.

"And we still have no idea who the bounty hunter is, although Sean is a definite possibility," I concluded.

"How many minutes left?" Kate turned to Magnus.

"Not enough," she replied, "We should free the cleared hostages. Safer all 'round."

"Might flush out the mole," Kate agreed, "I'll let the feds know they're coming."

"All right, you four, move to the front door," Magnus commanded. They didn't respond, only looked at each other.

"You're—you're not going to kill us, are you?" Will's "girlfriend" asked.

"You're free to go," Magnus said.

"I don't care how much you take from these bloodsuckers," Grace said, "just leave my Christmas fund alone. I stiffened almost imperceptibly at the word.

"You have my word," Magnus said, glancing back at me. The girl and Grace hurried toward the door.

"Still want to stay?"

"Not now," Sean answered.

"Wait. Wait," Thomas, the manager said. He helped Sean over to the door where Kate was waiting. The hostages left, Dave and George, looked stunned. They looked at each other, probably wondering why they weren't being freed as well. Kate looked out the blinds while I watched the remaining hostages, making sure neither of them tried escaping like Thomas last time. Magnus and Will opened the door from behind and the hostages rushed out. I joined them by the door as they closed it.

"It might buy us a few extra minutes," Magnus said, locking the door. Movement behind me caught my eye and I whirled around.

"Just enough time for me to escape with George here, before he explodes," Dave said, pointing Kate's gun at Walter's, I mean George's, neck. Seriously, that guy looked a hell of a lot like Walter from SG-1. I gave myself a mental slap. _You watch too much of that show!_ I told myself.

"Well, well," Magnus said, smiling slightly, "we meet our competition." Kate pressed into my hand a small slip of paper as Dave's attention was given to Magnus. I flipped it open and read it with vampire speed. I looked back at Dave, who hadn't noticed anything.

_All part of the plan. Need to get into the vault. Gun not loaded._

"What? What are you doing?" Walter gasped, held in a headlock with the gun against his neck, "I thought you were the bad guys. Ow!" Dave pushed harder with his gun, digging it into George's neck.

"The famous Helen Magnus," Dave said, "It's a privilege. Now drop your weapons."

"You leave us no choice," Magnus set as she set her gun on the ground. Will bent down and put his on the floor as well. I pulled mine from my waistband and dropped it next to Magnus's. "Let me guess," Magnus said, "Bounty hunter."

"Any idea how much a ferropodous egg fetches on the black market?" Dave asked.

"Too bad for you it's not an egg anymore," Will said.

"So? I grab the baby when it pops out of buddy here. Some payday is better than none," he looked at Kate, who looked away quickly.

"What? What's popping out of me? Ow!" George managed to get out. None of us answered him.

"What if you're the host?" Magnus asked.

"I was the last one in the bank. George has been here since it opened. I know it's not me."

"Okay, so you got my gun," Kate spoke for the first time since Dave shown who he really was, "You still got no way out of here."

"I saw you two, looking at the blueprints," he said looking at Kate and me.

"Yeah, but there's nothing—"

"Don't test me!" he growled, pressing the gun harder on George. Kate sighed.

"There's a panel in the elevator shaft. Leads to an old heating vent from back in the day when they used a coal furnace," Kate answered.

"And where does it go?"

"Into the basement of the neighboring building," Will replied, "From there there's a grate in the floor that leads to the sewers."

"We would have surfaced a few blocks away, no one the wiser," Magnus said.

"Show me," he commanded Will. We followed him over to the elevator, where Kate and Will manually opened the doors. Will gestured to the panel.

"There it is," he said.

"Open it," Dave commanded. Will sighed and carefully stepped onto the elevator shaft ledge. He carefully edged his way over to the panel and opened it with a clang.

"Okay," Dave said, motioning with his gun for Will to come back.

"You," he turned to me, "Why are you here?" He pointed to Will. "Forensic psychiatrist." Then to Kate. "Former bank robber. If you're here, in the company of the great Helen Magnus, then you must be special as well. And I don't like what that special means." I merely looked at him. "Go stand over there," he ordered. I complied easily, and Dave relaxed a little. Magnus's cell phone buzzed. She pulled it out. Dave immediately trained the gun on her. "Show it to me. East wall five minutes, what does that mean?"

"Our driver's waiting for us," she answered.

"He's going to have a long wait," Dave replied nastily. "The rest of your stuff, on the floor, now." We all took off our earpieces first, and then our phones. George let out a burst of green vapor.

"Ow…what?" he gasped as a little more came out.

"Gestation vapors," Magnus said.

"That's not good," Will said as he set his phone on the floor.

"It's growing. If we don't get it out of him soon, we'll miss our window."

"So what're you going to do now Dave?"

"He could kill the host, save us all."

"Then the creature dies, no payday," Dave answered Will.

"He could shoot us and try and escape with George here, before he explodes."

"Too noisy, the feds would storm in immediately."

"Looks like you've got a real problem, Dave," Will said.

"Okay. The vault," Dave said, smiling sinisterly.

"You wouldn't," Magnus said, looking shocked.

"Yeah, that'll work. George here explodes…"

"Will you people stop saying that?" George said.

"The ferropodous gets rid of you guys…"

"And after having fed the creature goes into hibernation until its next cycle," Will said.

"Which is when I scoop it up and escape through the sewers," Dave finished.

"It appears we underestimated our competition," Magnus said.

Dave laughed slightly. "Get moving. Down the stairs." Will and Kate looked at Magnus and she nodded slightly. We all trooped down into the vault, where he locked us in with George.

"Okay, so I'm assuming this is all part of the plan," Will said.

"Course it is," Magnus said.

"You'll love it," Kate said, "Trust me William."

Will threw up his hands. "Who says I don't love it now?" Kate started toward one of the three large heavy container racks and started moving it aside. I grabbed the middle one and easily pushed it off into a corner. Meanwhile, Will and Magnus were dealing with George who was on the floor with more vapors coming out of his mouth.

"Kate!" Magnus called.

"We should be out of here any minute," Kate said.

"Okay, it's time to tell me the plan," Will said.

"Remember when I told you about the new sewer system?" Kate asked.

"And you said we'd escape through the toilets?" I added.

"Yeah," Will said from beside George's unmoving form.

"Well this vault is the original model number thirty five C. Reinforced steel door, but the other three walls are concrete," she explained.

"That is the east wall, behind which is," Magnus started.

"The sewer!" Will said, getting up to help Kate and I move the last one out of the way, "so Henry's text message…"

"Best stand back," Kate warned. We all backed up a bit. George spewed more vapors. A loud noise could be heard from the other side of the wall. Suddenly it broke, a huge chunk of it torn away into the sewer.

"Who's your daddy?" Henry called, holding an injector of what I assumed was ferropodous toxin.

"Henry!" Magnus reached out for it. Will gave it to her and she injected George with it. His body contorted with spasms, finally ending when he spit something out. The ferropodous emerged, long as a loaf of bread and bright pinkish-purple. It flew at Kate, who covered her face with her arms. An excellent shot from Will sent it flying into a nearby wall. The faint scent of what I associate with root beer lingered in the air. Odd.

"Well done everyone. Kate—" Magnus called. Kate dropped the ferropodous into the container inside Magnus's large handbag. Magnus helped George up and they all headed into the tunnel.

"Tayla?" Kate asked, "Come on, let's go!"

"I'm staying here," I said, "our cell phones are back in the bank. The police could find out we were here."

"Be careful," Magnus called, "Meet you back at the research center in Seattle."

"Okay," I agreed. They left through the sewers and I attached the winch to the door handle and stood out of sight. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Dave tried opening the door only to find it jammed. His footsteps receded and I pulled the winch out of the door handle. Running up the stairs, I heard the police banging at the front door. Fast as lightning, I scooped our stuff off the floor and Magnus's phone off the table. I accidentally touched the screen and the contacts came up. She had over ten thousand of them! Wow.

Anyway, I grabbed a complimentary pen off the table and hid in a corner. The police broke through the door and I zipped out past them into the open air, leaving only a slight breeze in my wake. I ran all the way to Seattle after tucking the earpieces and phones into my pockets at a nearby park. I arrived at the research station even before they did and had time to catch my breath before they arrived. I returned the phones and earpieces to their rightful owners and we all boarded the plane for Old City. We arrived back at the Sanctuary, all happy and retelling the tale of our bank heist to the Big Guy and other personnel. I was on my bed reading _Brisingr_ for about the millionth time (can't wait until Inheritance comes out) when Kate came in. No knock or anything. But that's Kate for you.

"Hey," she said, "Henry and Will have just finished putting Taco in her cage. What're you doing?"

"Well, I _was_ reading," I began, "but—Oh, I almost forgot!" I dug something out of my back pocket. "For you. A souvenir." I held out to her one of the bank's complimentary pens.

"Thanks," she laughed, rolling her eyes.


	14. Old City's Operation Paranormal

**Trail of Blood - Old City's Operation Paranormal**

**TV-PG V**

_Tap. Tap. Clack. Clack. _Reaching over, I turned my music player up louder. "WHEN YOU'RE FIFTEEN, AND SOMEBODY TELLS YOU THEY LOVE YOU, YOU'RE GONNA BELIEVE THEM. WHEN YOU'RE FIFTEEN AND YOUR FIRST KISS MAKES YOUR HEAD SPIN 'ROUND." Oops. Too loud. I turned it down to a more comfortable volume. Better. _Tap. Clack. _I sighed. I just can't win. _Tap, tap, clack. _Okay, this was really getting annoying. Kate was gone to Alaska, so it wasn't her making the noise. I turned the music off and poked my head out of my room into the hallway. Will, Magnus, and the Big Guy were coming down the hall.

"Tayla, you have to see this," Will called.

"Would it have anything to do with the loud tap and clack sounds?" I asked as I stepped out.

"Why, yes it would," Will said. He led us down to the catacombs and gestured to an object sitting on the table. It looked a bit like an old typewriter, but it moved by itself. _Tap. Clack._

"Good heavens, it's been a long time since I've seen this," Magnus said, smiling.

"Okay so no batteries? What gives?" Will asked, eyeing the typewriter almost apprehensively.

"It's an autotype," she explained, "One of only five that were built during the second World War, each one handcrafted using available materials in a time of great scarcity. I managed to convince the inventor to give it to the office of strategic services. Without it, the war could have ended very differently."

"I heard rumors about this. The secret machine that the allies used to communicate. I didn't think it was real," Will said, and I nodded, agreeing with him.

"Oh, it's quite real," Magnus said, "And this one is the only survivor. It transmits and receives a fluctuating electromagnetic that can't be intercepted." She reached down and ripped a sheet of paper off the desk.

"But if this is the last one, then where's the message coming from?"

She inserted the slip of paper into the machine. "From the one man who knew of its existence and how to use it," she answered. The message started coming out, cut from the paper. S. "The inventor of the device itself." She removed the paper, which now read _SOS_. "This is a distress call," she said, holding it up, "from Nikola Tesla." Will stared at her, and even the Big Guy looked surprised. I should have known.

"Come, Tayla, help me move it to Henry's lab," she said. I lifted up one side of the intricate machine and she picked up the other. Together we carried it down to Henry's lab.

"Why are we moving it there?" I asked as we stepped into the elevator.

"Henry can find where the signal came from," she answered. We set it down and Henry got straight to work. "There's not another man alive who could built one of these," Magnus said, "No offense Henry."

"None taken," he answered, "That is a masterpiece."

"You know, it would be nice if he gave us a little more info," Will said from his stool, "Like where he is, his situation, what his danger level is..."

"Picked up a phone," the Big Guy grunted.

"At the very least," Will agreed.

"If Nikola resorted to this method of communication he obviously has few options. Henry, were you able to pinpoint the location of the signal?"

"Yeah. It cycles between a half a dozen frequencies, but the pattern repeats, so I got a pretty good lock on the general location. Three hundred clicks west of Cartagena, the Columbian Highlands. The signal fades in and out, I think it's fighting interference, so it might be underground."

"Alright. We'll pick up local transport there. Will, Henry, you're with me. We leave in an hour," she turned to leave. Will groaned.

"Wait," I asked, "Can I come?"

"You're leaving in a few days," she replied, "We might not get back in time."

"Please!" I pleaded.

"No, Tayla, and that's final," she said, turning out of the room. Will followed her and I did too.

"You know he's playing us, right?" Will asked her, "He's probably laughing his ass off in some café in Paris about sending us on a wild goose chase to rural Colombia."

"Why would he do that?" Magnus asked.

"Why?" Will laughed, "You never know why with this guy but he's always up to something!"

"Well, you're not wrong about that, but aren't you at least curious as to what it is this time?"

"It's a set up, Magnus, a trap. That's what he does, how he rolls."

"Yes," she said with exaggerated emotion, "What if he's posing as the king of a lost mountain tribe and he wants me for his queen?" Will and I both smiled. "Or," Magnus said softly, "What if he actually needs our help?" The elevator doors opened.

"Fine," Will said with fake enthusiasm, "I'll get my stuff together." He stepped into the elevator. "The man comes with a hidden agenda," he warned, "Every time." As the elevator doors closed, he called out, "Every time!"

Magnus smiled and said to me, "That's what makes him so interesting."

"Indeed," I agreed. I spent the rest of the day in my room, listening to music, slightly angry at Magnus for not letting me go. At least Kate would be home soon. I finished my book and headed down for another book, passing through the conference room on the way to the library. Kate's exasperated voice echoed through the hallways. She must have got back from Alaska.

"Ugh! What a cluster hump that was! First of all, the flight out of Skagway didn't have a proper freight hold. The crew was planning on loading the creatures and the crates separately, and I'm like: Whoa! People! It's a sub arctic alcada not a Corgi! Keep it away from other frequent flyers!" The Big Guy chuckled and Kate sighed, and from the sound of it dropped her bags on the floor. "Ended up chartering a private plane and getting it here solo. It's all tucked away downstairs. Where's the doc?"

"Cartagena," the Big Guy grunted.

"Oh. Will too? And Hank?" The Big Guy growled.

"Did they…need me…down…there?" Kate asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Didn't mention it," the Big Guy said.

"Oh," Kate said unhappily.

"You're not the only one not needed," I said, struggling to keep the menace out of my voice as I entered the room.

"Oh! Tayla!" she said happily. She approached the Big Guy. "So, whatcha working on?"

"I was cataloguing the library," he grunted.

"Oh please," she said, "Don't play a player. I saw you hit the panic button. What's a guilty pleasure?" The Big Guy moved a stack of papers, uncovering a set of DVDs.

"Oho!" Kate shouted, "Nice!" I went over and got a look at the cover. It was _Operation Paranormal_. "Hey, what do you say you ditch the cleaning gear and we'll fire it up in the media room instead?"

The Big Guy looked tempted. "Nah…I got too much work to do."

"Aww, come on, the cat's away, live a little!"

"Suppose I could finish this tomorrow…" he said slowly.

"That's the spirit," Kate said, thumping him on the back, "Okay, start without me. I am going to take the longest hot shower in Sanctuary history." The Big Guy chuckled and took the DVDs down to the library media room. I followed Kate to her room.

"How much more did the private plane cost?" I asked as we headed up to our rooms.

"A lot," she answered.

"You're going to be in trouble with Magnus," I told her as we rounded the corner.

"She's a real stickler with money," Kate agreed, "but I think she'd rather spend the extra money than explain to the Washington authorities why some passengers were killed."

"True," I said, "Okay, see you at the library in twenty."

"Yeah," Kate said, closing her room door behind her. I sat on my bed excitedly waiting for her before my eyes fell on a stack of papers lying at the foot of my bed. Uh oh. What were those? I reached over and picked them up. "Oh, crap!" I said out loud. They were the papers I would have to complete before they released George from the New York Sanctuary, where he had been recently relocated. We were going to investigate some vampire sightings in Cali together, thinking they might be true. We were leaving the day after tomorrow, which is why Magnus wouldn't let me come with her to help Nikola. I doggedly began filling out the forms with a hastily snatched up pen. Name…George Cabalus…taken out by…Tayla Magnus…with permission from…oh good Magnus signed there already…date of departure…9/24/11…date returning…9/26/11. Okay, that part was done. I shuffled to the next paper.

_I, __Tayla Magnus__, do understand that I am taking an abnormal of the New York Sanctuary and it is my responsibility and mine alone to ensure that it/he/she is returned safely. I have read and agree to the…._

"Blah blah blah," I muttered, signing my name on the bottom. No way I was going to read all that. After filling out the other dozen papers I threw down my pen and paper clipped them together. I had just placed them on my dresser when Kate knocked on my door. She opened it after a few seconds, freshly showered with a towel wrapped around her head.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "Just finishing the paperwork for my trip."

"The one with your fellow vampire?" she asked as we walked down the hall, "Aren't you afraid he's going to make a run for it over in Cali?"

"They say he's been doing really well in NY," I answered.

Kate shrugged. "If you say so." We reached library and Operation Paranormal was already playing. The Big Guy was sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. Kate sat down next to him and I took a spot next to her.

"Season four Halloween special," the Big Guy grunted, handing her a soda.

"Fort Delaware? Huh," she said, "Spooky." He set the popcorn bowl between them and we watched the episodes. I think I nodded off a few times. We all got a little jumpy, eyes glued to the screen with fright. Whenever Kate and the Big Guy's hairy hand touched in the popcorn bowl they'd both jump, knocking me off the couch. Eventually I think we all fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of an episode at a loud noise as a barrel rolled away on screen to find myself lying across Kate, one of her arms cradling me slightly, whose head was on the Big Guy's shoulder. They were both sound asleep. I almost giggled. I fell back asleep only to be woken up as Kate fell over. I landed on the floor. Again. The Big Guy got up and ran out of the room.

"I have to go," he grunted.

"But…" Kate said sleepily, "What about the 2:00 A.M. feeding? " She pulled herself up more. "You said you'd help!" she called after him.

She frowned grumpily, "Thanks." She looked back at the TV, which was now showing the news. The reporter lady came on screen.

"Again, Father Nathaniel Jensen, murdered in the Fifth Ward. A community in shock." Kate and I gazed after the Big Guy.

"Father Jensen," I said slowly, "Wasn't he the one who…"

"Yeah," Kate said, "Come on, I know where he'll be." She threw the towel off her head and hastily brushed her down mostly-dry hair. She grabbed a coat and threw a second to me. We practically flew into a car and arrived at a small parking garage. We climbed the stairs to find an overlook of the police officers. We approached the Big Guy from behind. Kate and I knelt down by him.

"I am so sorry Big Guy," Kate said sadly.

"He helped abnormals find the Sanctuary," the Big Guy said still gazing down at the police, "He knew the risks." There was a pause. "Was never afraid," the Big Guy said, tears starting to roll down his hairy cheeks, "He did not deserve this."

"He sounds like a good guy," Kate said softly, and I clasped the Big Guy's hairy hand tightly in my own.

"More than that," the Big Guy murmured, "He was a friend." The head police officer hailed his comrades to him, his voice ringing out across the way to the overlook.

"Listen up," he commanded, "The city worker identified a suspect. We need a last known on a Denny Stefano. You should already have a jacket on the guy." The Big Guy sniffed, looking sideways at Kate and I.

"Do you know him?" I asked. The Big Guy sniffed again and got up from his kneeling position.

"Stay here," he ordered. Kate and I looked at each other.

"Okay," we finally agreed. About thirty minutes later, he returned carrying a man by the scuff of his jacket.

"Got him," he grunted, "But he didn't kill Father Jensen."

"The police," the man whimpered, "they're just going to kill me outright, claim I was resisting…save themselves the paperwork."

"Nobody's going to kill you," I told him. The Big Guy stuffed him in the van and drove off to the Sanctuary, Kate and I following. By the time we had arrived (stupid traffic lights) the Big Guy had put him in a secure cell. We watched from the security cameras as the man paced.

"So you're sure he wasn't the killer?" Kate asked, "He's not exactly an upstanding citizen."

"He's innocent; his fear scent was too strong."

"Okay," Kate said, "Well if you're right with the number of cops looking for him he's safer in here."

"So what have you got?" the Big Guy asked.

"Assuming whoever's framing this kid is the real killer, they'd have to plant evidence to make him look like a real suspect."

"You think it's a cop," the Big Guy concluded.

"Yeah," Kate replied, pulling open a file folder from the library.

"Stanley O' Farrell, homicide, lead investigating officer, fifteen years clean, citations for valor, loving behind the call, but he had complete access to the crime scene and the evidence. He could pull all the strings to set him up if he wanted to. And the profile doesn't fit."

"I saw him at the church," the Big Guy grunted, "Something wasn't right. Body language, voice tone. All wrong."

"You think maybe he's lost it?" Kate asked, looking up at him.

"Or he's an abnormal. Father J. might have—probably was—trying to help him…"

"And got killed for his troubles," Kate agreed and pointed to the picture, "We need to bring him in. Wherever he is."

"Shouldn't be a problem," the Big Guy assured her.

"Hey, I got an idea," I interrupted. "But the guy in there," I pointed to the screen, "isn't going to like it." They both looked at me expectantly. "We give O' Farrell the location of Denny. He'll come running to kill him, which is when we capture him!"

"What is he brings his police squad with him?" Kate asked.

"We'll make it clear that he needs to get there as fast as possible," I answered, "And, if he's really intent on killing Denny, he can't do it in front of his squad. They would see he wasn't resisting."

"Alright," Kate said, "I'll go make the call."

"Tell him he's at the empty lot near us," the Big Guy said, "Quick for us to get there." Kate nodded. I headed down to Denny's cell.

"You're coming with me," I said as the door opened. He got up from his chair. "We have a deal for you," I said, "We can clear your name if you help us."

He looked almost hopeful. "What do I have to do?"

"Be bait for Detective Stanley O' Farrell."

After hearing him agree and back out about a hundred times on the ride over, I was glad when we left him in the parking lot and waited, Kate and the Big Guy with binoculars, on top of one of the old storage containers.

"He better not run," Kate said.

"He won't," the Big Guy replied.

"I hate it when they run."

"He won't run." Kate lifted her binoculars again.

"Come on O' Farrell! You got the tip you know he's been spotted come get him!" Kate said impatiently.

"Kate," the Big Guy grunted, putting a hairy hand on her arm, "Relax." The screeching of a car filled our ears.

"This is it!" Kate said. A car came into the lot and Denny ran away from it. Kate pulled her gun out of her waistband and looked back at the Big Guy. There was no one there.

"Well, this is it," I said with a tight smile. I moved swiftly, jumping off the back side of the storage container and landing without a sound. I circled around in the shadows, getting closer to Denny and O' Farrell, who had gotten out of his car. Denny had his hands in the air at the gun pointed out at him.

"What? What are you doing? I'm not resisting!"

"Yeah…yeah you are," O' Farrell said shakily, glancing around furtively.

"No really! I have a right to remain silent! I have the right to an attorney!"

"Just shut up, shut up!" O' Farrell said, shaking and close to crying. He closed his eyes, raising the gun. Where was the Big Guy?

"What're you doing?" Denny asked panicking.

"I'm—I'm sorry, kid. Nothing personal." He cocked the gun.

"Hyaaaa!" the Big Guy yelled, launching himself at the man with the gun. I moved swiftly over to Denny and put my hand on his shoulder.

"You did well," I whispered. The Big Guy slammed O' Farrell into the wall, lifting him up into the air. Kate came up behind me and scooped O' Farrell's gun off the ground.

"You okay?" she asked Denny. He nodded shakily.

"You don't know what you've done," O' Farrell said weakly, "You don't know anything."

"You killed Father J!" the Big Guy roared, "WHY?"

"I had to! You think I had a choice?" The Big Guy roared again, albeit softer this time. "I know who you are, what you do."

"Then let us help you," Kate said.

"You can't. I did what I had to do. What he made me do." The Big Guy let him slide to the ground. "You don't understand. This thing's bigger than us. It's over. He got everything he wanted."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Who?" the Big Guy growled. The man shuddered, gathering his courage. "Who?" the man looked up. His eyes widened and he seemed paralyzed with fear.

"Oh God, no, please…oh God no, please no," the man whimpered, still staring behind us. I turned around swiftly and caught only a glimpse of black on our old hideout place. I blinked and it was gone. It must have been a trick of the light. But why was O' Farrell shaking then?

"Stop!" O' Farrell let out a final cry. He slumped over, dead. Kate rushed forward and took his pulse, but I already knew what she was going to say.

"Oh my God," she breathed. We all looked around apprehensively. Nothing happened. No one else dropped dead. "All right," Kate said uncertainly, "Let's get him back to the Sanctuary."

I lifted O' Farrell from the ground and carried his body to the van. The Big Guy followed, trudging silently, and Kate spoke softly to Denny. We drove back in silence. When we reached the Sanctuary the Big Guy disappeared into the atrium, dark now, and I left for my room after dropping O' Farrell off. I filed as much of the report as I could without the medical data. The doorbell rang as I was wandering around, and I ran to get it. Magnus, Will, Henry, and Nikola, dirty and bashed, stood there, all grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"What happened this time?" Soon as I could, I pulled Magnus away from the group. In quiet tones I informed her of what had happened. She looked stricken and left at once to find the Big Guy.

That night I locked my door with a titanium-ion chain since Nikola was staying the night. I advised Kate to do the same, so she took a spare thin chain out of the closet and hooked it to her side of the door. I continued reading my book, afraid to go to sleep. Visions of O' Farrell's body filled even my waking hours.

Surprisingly for having gotten no sleep, I was still wide awake and fresh the next morning. Kate poked her head in my room. "Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked.

"Not really," I answered truthfully.

Magnus knocked on my door. "Come in," I called.

"Do you have the paperwork you need?" Magnus asked.

"Yes," I replied, handing it to her, "Almost forgot it though." She looked me over carefully.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked, looking between them.

"Considering you were bouncing that ball on the wall all night—" Kate said.

"Yes," Magnus concluded with a small smile.

"Sorry," I said, squeezing the yellow ball. _Squeak._ "I didn't think it was that loud."

"It is when I passed by your door," Magnus smiled.

"Or when you're bouncing off the wall that separates our rooms," Kate said laughingly. I smiled ruefully. "Guess so." Another thought occurred to me. "What were you doing in front of my room?"

"Oh…" Magnus looked slightly unsure, "I was just…checking on you."

"Checking on me?" I asked blankly.

"Well…you are my adopted daughter…" Magnus pointed out.

"Right," I said smiling.

She smiled too. "And…Nikola was messing with the map in the library."

"Of course he was," Kate rolled her eyes.

"At three o'clock in the morning," Magnus added, eyes twinkling. "Are you nervous?"

"What? Me? No!" I said. "Well…maybe a little," I said after a pause.

Magnus pulled me from the bed. "Come on, you'll be fine. Now get going!" she pushed me out of the room, with Kate laughing behind us. Zipping behind them faster than they could see, I laughed as they kept going forward. Magnus stopped suddenly, realizing I was no longer in front of her, and Kate slammed into her from behind. I doubled over with laughter, and they picked themselves up from the floor, struggling to maintain their dignity. Magnus walked toward me and steered me by my shoulder. "All right, you," she said, "Off you go. George is waiting."


	15. Brr! Lake Michigan is Cold!

**Hero II: Broken Arrow - Brr! Lake Michigan is Cold!**

**TV-PG LSV**

I arrived on the doorstep of the New York Sanctuary around seven thirty in the morning. I stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell. After a moment, Konji answered it.

"Come in, come in," he said.

"Thank you," I said, stepping over the threshold.

"Your friend will be out in a moment," Konji said. Konji, an old colleague of Magnus's, was one of the few people who knew my connection to George Cabalus. He knew I wasn't just taking him out under heavy guard, we were going to work together as partners—something the New York Sanctuary would never approve of, even if Terrance Wexford was no longer head of it. I shifted my backpack full of vampire necessities to my other shoulder. George appeared, supporting a similar backpack. He grinned as he approached me. We exchanged a swift hug and I handed Konji the paperwork. We left quickly stopping at a nearby park to go over the plan.

"Haven't seen you in a while," he said as we stopped at a park bench.

"Indeed," I laughed, "How are you?"

"Pretty good, actually, now that I'm out here in the sun. Stupid doctors wouldn't let me outside much."

"Well you'll get lots of outside time now," I laughed, dropping my backpack on the bench, "Let's see what they've accommodated us with, shall we?" I unzipped it and pulled out a stainless steel bottle and shook it. George pulled out an identical bottle and I unscrewed the cap. I smiled, showing it to him. "Animal plasma."

"Yummy," he said, checking his bottle as well. I dug deeper and pulled out a minimal first aid kit—though why we'd ever need one I don't know—and an set of earpieces, which we both put on immediately. My nail caught on something. I pulled it out, tugging out a cord of some kind. I reached in and felt around the bottom. I pulled it out and found an iPod complete with the entire Sanctuary music database.

"Well they've certainly provided us with everything we need," I commented. Opening the front pocket I found my knife. I touched it and a shiver of cold ice sliced through my body. Titanium. Useful. Or was it a dagger? Knife. Dagger. Is there a difference? It had a small hilt just long enough for my hand. The titanium alloy blade was lethal to vampires and was very lightweight. The hilt was made of another lightweight metal I haven't quite identified. Also inside were our fake FBI badges that would get us through the police to talk to the witnesses. I put everything back in.

"Okay," I said, "Ready to go?"

"I'm ready," he replied with a smile, "The nearest highway to Cali is this way." I followed him to the intersection.

"Okay," I said, glancing around furtively, "Let's do this."

We started running faster and faster until we were less than a blur. We hopped on top of a nearby moving car without a sound. Wordlessly I nodded to him as the car shifted into the right-most lane. Jumping as high as I could, I landed easily on the wall, teetering slightly as I regained my balance. As soon as he had joined me, landing with a graceful leap like a cat, we took off again, running on the thin wall that separated the highway from houses. We outstripped cars and buses, trucks and ambulances. We leapt over exits and even a truck or two. When we stopped around noon on a grassy hillside, we were tired, more tired than we'd ever been in our lives.

"We seriously," George gasped, "Have to do another six hours of this?"

"Yep," I replied, breathing just as heavily, "Drink some animal plasma, it'll help." I pulled out my own bottle and took a gulp. Strength returned to my body and my breathing slowed to its normal rate. "Better?" I asked.

"Much," he replied, "Ready to move on?"

"Okay," I agreed, packing up my bag once again, "We should reach Columbus by nightfall."

"And then we can go double this speed," he grinned.

"You know what?" an idea occurred to me, "If we're going to sleep, we should do it during the day."

"That's a good idea," he agreed, "There's a nice swath of trees we could conceal ourselves in over there."

"All right," I warned, "But only a few hours." We settled down in the shady trees, not bothering to keep watch because we were in the middle of nowhere. Besides, we were vampires. What could happen?

When we awoke, they sun was starting to sink behind the horizon. "What happened to only a few hours?" I grumbled as I swung my pack onto my back again.

"Oh well," George said, laughing. We set off at a quick pace, trying to make up for lost time. Soon it was dark, and I could feel my senses awakening as they did only at nighttime. We slipped into the shadows, almost completely invisible as we leaped from place to place. We had discovered that, though running was faster, leaping tired us less quickly. We kept going all night, stopping only once for animal plasma and to turn our iPods on. Car sounds weren't high on my list of annoying noises, but, hey, if you listen to them for ten hours straight you tend to get tired of them. I selected the playlist I had made and we kept going, sometimes stopping for a quick breather on top of a truck.

The rest of the days went like that. Running, leaping, music, rests on top of trucks. We finally crossed the Sierra Nevadas on the fourth day. We were both pretty tired, and our animal plasma had long run out. Luckily, Magnus had arranged for a small research facility to refill our bottles. We arrived on their doorstep in Bakersfield. An old man with reptilian eyes answered the door.

"Magnus's two? Got yer stuff right here. Can't imagine what you'd need it for though, 'cept for vampires!" he said with a heavy accent I couldn't place. The senile old man laughed.

"Umm…thank you," I said, backing away from the door.

"Yah, be off you two. Don't know what Magnus's thinkin' sending two young hoodlums like that off on their own…" he muttered to himself as he shut the door. George and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

"If only he knew," I choked. When we finally could control ourselves again, we started for San Francisco, where the vampire sightings started. Although, if it really was a vampire, he or she could be halfway across the country by now. I didn't like to dwell on that. We made it to Frisco in under two hours, stopping for breakfast at Burger King along the way. We neared the police station after walking a brisk walk through the crowded streets on San Francisco. A burly policeman greeted us.

"Hello, there you two, can I help you?"

"Yeah, we're looking for the witnesses to Sighting number…" I glanced at George, "1627."

"Can I see your identification?" he asked, sliding off the counter. I held out our fake badges.

"That all seems to be in order…" the guy said uncertainly. "Ummm…you two are kind of young for the FBI, aren't you?"

"It's a…special section," I lied.

"Classified," George cut in.

The policeman looked surprised but accepted it without question. "Come right back here," he led us down a white hallway. "We've scheduled them all to come in around 11:00, so you're a bit early."

"That's okay," I replied. His radio buzzed.

"Sir, we've got a report of the same sighting 20 miles east of San Francisco off a small suburban street Circle Way," it crackled.

"Okay thanks Dirk, I—" the policeman started.

"We…really gotta go," I said, pulling George toward the door.

"What? Wait! You can't just… You haven't met the witnesses!"

"Sorry!" I called behind us. We fast-walked out of the building into the sunshine. We blinked and looked around at the busy street.

"Any idea where Circle Way is?" I asked, shading my eyes with my hand.

"Nope. Never been to California before," he answered.

"I went once. With my mother. A vacation to Yosemite National Park," I said distractedly. "Hey, over there, is that a…"

"Yeah," George said, hurrying over to it, "A map!" We spread it open and stepped out of the way of an elderly Chinese couple passing by.

"Circle Way, Circle Way, Circle Way…" I muttered as I searched.

"There," George said, pointing to it, "Circle Way."

"That's that way," I pointed east, the way we'd come. We started running, zipping past people. I think I might have accidentally bumped into a mother and her child once, but other than that I was amazed at how well we navigated through the busy streets. We reached the countryside in no time, catching a ride on the top of a Safeway truck. When we got near, we jumped off into some sculpted shrubbery. Immediately George got up and looked out.

"Is that…" he asked, sniffing.

I inhaled deeply. "Yeah. Blood."

"Not human," he said, turning north, "Coming from this way."

I followed him, trusting his nose. Flitting between houses and jumping over gates, I could imagine we looked like demons leaping through the shadows. Luckily or unluckily, we saw no one. The scent of blood hit me again, sharpening my senses. Dog blood I think. I knew we were getting close.

"There," George said sadly.

"Yes," I breathed. A small dog, its side torn, lay still on the edge of the sidewalk. As we approached, I thought I saw something disappearing behind a historic style house, but I looked again and it was gone. The dog's side still oozed blood. Whoever—or whatever—did this wasn't far away. We both stared at the dead animal until I noticed the almost hungry look in George's eyes. "We need to go," I said, breaking him from his trance, "look, over there, on that white fence, is that more blood?"

"Yes," George confirmed, "like someone fled here with blood still on their hands. It would have splattered like this while they ran by."

"More over there," I said, pointing, "Nice of them to leave a trail."

"It'll dry soon," George said, "We have to move now."

"Ready when you are," I said, adjusting my pack.

"It seems to be heading east from here," George said, "Every mile we'll stop check the scent."

"Agreed," I said, and took off. After about a mile, we skidded to a stop, me ungracefully crashing into the brick wall of a house. "Hate it when that happens," I said, "So not all-powerful vampire-like."

George smiled and lifted his head to sniff. "Still east. How about every five miles? We'll never catch up to them at this rate."

"Yeah," I said, glancing around, "Blood spatter over there. They were definitely here."

We took off again, the landscape passing by us almost in a blur. We passed a small field of grazing cows before George slammed to a stop, putting his arm out to stop me as well. Unprepared, I slammed into his arm at full speed, sending us both flying over the electric fence into the cow field. The few nearest us looked at us warily before snorting and plodding away.

"Great," George said, dusting himself off, "You really need to work on your stops."

"Don't I know it," I muttered, getting up gingerly from the ground, "What did you go and stop for?"

"That," he pointed grimly across the field, where I could see two small figures carrying a limp body past a couple of cows. I put a hand to my lips to signal we shouldn't talk in case they could hear us. We crept silently toward the distant figures, moving as quickly as we dared. Cows mooed, flicking their tails to swat flies off their large bodies.

"Whoa!" George yelled, breaking the calm. He fell to the ground, shoving a cow as he fell. The figures looked behind them and saw us. Dropping the body onto the ground, they started running, dragging it along behind them. The cows mooed and snorted, stomping their hooves. I pulled George to his feet, unsure whether to watch the figures sprinting away from us or the angry cows.

"Thanks," he panted. The patch of grass he had slipped on was slick with blood, and it was then I noticed the trail of droplets leading toward where I had last seen the figures.

"Come on, there's a trail," I said, pointing. We followed it until dusk, when we had to stop for a rest. The trail had led us way back east, but I couldn't tell what state we were in. We had long left the field of cows and their electric fence. Maybe we were in Cali still, or maybe we had gotten all the way to Colorado. There was no way to tell. The blood trail led deliberately away from roads. It had become harder in the later afternoon when we crossed into desert and the blood dried in the sun. Going more slowly and following the scent rather than the trail, we moved on as the land gradually changed into a moist rocky landscape. Taking a shortcut across a road, I was able to determine we were in Colorado. The scent of blood dwindled until it was gone completely. Whoever—or whatever—was bleeding must have healed somewhat. We decided to stop and see how things looked in the morning. We found a medium-sized city and slept on the roof of a nearby Target.

Early the next morning, when no one was awake, we jumped down from the roof of the building. The reek of fresh blood hit us like a mighty wave, coming from a residential area.

"Please not a cat this time," I muttered. I liked cats. We made it over there in good time and found another dead animal by the side of the road, cunningly disguised as road kill.

"What," George asked, kneeling down beside it, "do these people have against dogs?"

"There!" I pointed at a small figure leaping atop a nearby house a block away. We followed, determined not to lose him. Jumping over a hedge, I called to George, "They've just eaten, so they'll be faster than us!"

"I know!" he yelled back, jumping neatly over a park bench. More figures, one staggering wildly, could be seen now. The staggering one fell and was harshly pulled up by the tall one next to it. The rest of our day went like that, running after the group, sometimes gaining on them, but never catching them. It was the middle of the night and I was glad for my excellent night vision when I saw the weak one fall. The smallest signaled to the other and they dragged the weak one off into the night. We had crossed a big chunk of America today I was sure. No rest stops and we had started early and it was very early in the morning now. I remembered crossing the Wisconsin border a couple hours ago. We followed the group tiredly until we reached a leafy glade bordering a remote piece of Lake Michigan.

"Tell me we do not have to cross that," George said, staring at the rippling black water.

"Nope," I answered, throwing my pack down, "They camped out somewhere near here."

"Sleep?" George asked hopefully.

"Yep," I answered with a grin. We lay down on the soft grass staring up at the stars. I soon fell asleep to the sound of crickets chirping in the long grass. I woke up the next morning to my cell phone ringing. At first I didn't comprehend what it was. I leaped up, jostling a still sleeping George, alert to fight any foe that came near. I realized what the sound was and quickly answered it.

"Tayla," Magnus's voice came through with a slight crackle.

"Yeah, I'm here," I replied softly.

"How're you doing?" she asked.

"Fine," I answered, "What's going on with you?"

"Tayla," she began haltingly, "You need to stay where you are. You're needed. And you can't just leave George off on his own…"

"Magnus…What's wrong?" I asked.

She sighed. "It's Kate. She's missing."

"Sorry?"

"The environmental alarm warnings went off this morning. Will and Kate left to move the abnormals in that area to a secure housing facility off site. Men attacked the van and Walter's suit was stolen, and they took Kate as well."

"Oh my God," I breathed.

"Stay where you are. You're needed there. We'll deal with this."

"Keep me informed," I said curtly and ended the call.

"What is it?" George asked.

"Kate's missing," I said, struggling to keep my voice empty of emotion. "Thank you," I said curtly, "for everything." I pushed my pack toward him and turned around.

"Don't you need that?" he asked.

"Not where I'm going," I said. I began running at a normal human speed and jumped atop a rocky cliff that went out into the lake. I kept going out before stopping at the edge, twenty yards past the waterline.

"Tayla," he called, "Where are you—" I jumped, flipping my body over into a dive. I sank beneath the cold, murky water before pushing my way to the surface. I'd never tested my abilities in water before, but I had to get to Old City. I began to swim breaststroke out toward the invisible opposite shore through the morning fog. I fell into the rhythm of swimming, my healing powers keeping me warm, and, sadly, I had ample time to think. Time to think about Kate, where she was, what they were doing to her. Why they'd taken her in the first place. The only possible solution was…the suit went onto her? It was the only plausible reason.

I stopped and treaded water for a minute. Was that land over there? I guessed so and swam faster, cutting through the water with superhuman speed. In no time at all, I reached the bank and pulled myself onshore. I gave myself a moment to rest, but Kate's predicament kept me going. I pulled my pocket to check the time on my phone, only to find it gone. Then I remembered I had left it in my pack so it wouldn't be hurt by the water. Great. Now how was Magnus going to keep me informed? I gazed upwards instead. Judging by the sun peeking out from behind the clouds, it was around eight in the morning. It had been seven when I had received Magnus's call. I needed to hurry up.

Picturing Kate in my mind's eye, I set off faster than I had ever run before through dense forests dodging tree branches. Somewhere along the way I would slip through a corner of Canada as the fastest way to get to Old City. I ran for miles and miles without stopping, determined to get there before it was too late. I didn't let myself dwell on George trying to capture the vampires by himself.

Believe it or not, it was only eleven o'clock when I reached the outskirts of Old City, breathing hard. My energy reserves had been depleted. If someone shot me right now, I wasn't sure I would heal. After all that, I didn't think I had time to contact the Sanctuary and try to find them, wherever they were. I wanted to find Kate _now_. I apprehensively slipped the ring, my new VPFBD, off my finger. My senses expanded and I could hear everyone's heartbeat around me, from the person sitting on the park bench texting to the dude in the drugstore two miles away. I had once come in contact with Kate's blood and had taken the liberty to memorize the way it smelled, in case I ever needed to locate her. With the ring off, my senses were at their fullest. Even if she had no wounds, I could find her. I took a deep breath and set my mind to the task at hand.

Following my instincts, I walked briskly toward the river district where the scent was coming from. I prowled the alleyways until I found that one large complex in the middle had the strongest scent. I opened the doorway quietly, faster than a human could see, slipped inside and shut it. In a fluid movement, I slipped across to the other door and managed to get to the hallway. The desk clerk was still typing, eyes glued to the screen, completely oblivious.

I passed by and office and finally made my way into a storage room. The door on the opposite side was marked "Lab." She was in there, I was sure she was. In my eagerness to free her, I knocked over a beaker, which shattered on the ground. Whispers came from the lab door. Abandoning my stealth attempts, I pushed it open with a bang. A burly man in a leather jacket looked at me, holding a gun trained on Kate's head. She was strapped to the table, in a black suit. Her clothes were tossed in a corner and a scientist worked the controls on a scary looking machine.

"Try to release her and he will shoot her brains out," the scientist said, trying to sound tough, "and if you try and take him out, this red button will end her life via a strong energy surge."

"Tayla," Kate said, "You…gotta…bust me outta here."

I looked around and saw the scientist meant what he said. "I'm sorry," I told her, "but I can't."

"Relax, you're in no danger," he said, taking a syringe of green liquid.

"Well then what is that?" she asked, voice trembling ever so slightly as she strained against the restraints.

"Dopamine inhibitor. It will help with the extraction process."

"No get that thing away from me!" she strained as he injected her. She was breathing heavily. "Do you know who I work for?"

"Hold still," the man said. He adjusted some controls. "Now, you're going to feel a slight pinch between the eyes…"

"No! No!" she struggled more and I stood by her side helplessly. The burly man cracked his knuckles. "No!" She stared up at the ceiling, frozen, as her body convulsed. Then again, in a regular pattern. He waved his hand in front of her face and she didn't respond. I squeezed her hand.

"Don't worry," he said, "It'll all be over soon."

"How soon?" I demanded as he moved to another set of controls.

"Soon enough. Five, six hours? She'll be fine," he said, preoccupied with as computer screen.

"Really? Well, she doesn't look fine to me!"

"All the machine does is remove the suit," he said, "She's free to go after we're done."

Kate convulsed again, and I suddenly wished Magnus was here to tell me what I should do. He busied himself again and, half an hour later by my count, excused himself from the lab, saying he had to report to his boss. Extending my hearing and twisting my ring around my finger like I did when I was upset, I listened in on the report.

"Mr. St. Pierre, you wanted to see me?"

"Ten minutes ago. What's the status?" a surprisingly young man answered.

"Things are progressing nicely," the scientist said nervously.

"No they're not," Mr. St. Pierre answered, "We should have been long gone by now."

"The suit's natural resistance—"

"I know about the suit's natural resistance, Ray," the young man sounded impatient, "You said the machine could overcome it."

"There have been power fluctuations; the machine's not operating at peak capacity."

"You kidding me right now? What, is this joke time? We're not in some cushy lab somewhere, that's why you can't get this done?"

"No, no, I didn't mean…"

"I don't care what you meant! The Board of Directors has been having my ass about this suit. If I don't recover it in time for their meeting tomorrow night they're going to use both of us as bait for their marlin fishing excursion! Understand? Good. I want us out of here in one hour."

"But Mr. St. Pierre," Ray started, obviously alarmed.

"Do whatever you have to do. Just get it done!" Ray came back down the hall and into the lab again, looking sad.

"You can't do this," I said.

"I have to," he said softly, and then to Kate, "I'm sorry."

He turned the knob of the machine. Kate let out a cry and convulsed again, harder this time. She cried out with each convulsion, each coming faster than before. I clutched her hand tightly, desperately wishing I could help her. Mr. St. Pierre, a young, sallow-faced man, came in a half hour later.

"I need that suit Ray!" He regarded Kate's spasms and her cries of pain. He looked at me. "What's she doing here?"

"She's not doin' any harm," the bulky man said.

"Great, just great. I love how _none of this_ in going according to plan!"

"Sorry, Mr. St. Pierre," the scientist said as I glared at Mr. St. Pierre, desperately wishing I could slice him open with my claws.

"Oh, this is just painful; can't you speed it up?"

"Already operating at peak levels," the scientist said, watching the machine and occasionally adjusting a dial.

"Well, give her something to calm her down! This is starting to freak me out."

"I can't; it would interfere with the dopamine drugs. I could dial the machine down…" Mr. St. Pierre slapped his hand away from the dial.

"Don't dial the machine back! Just get it over with! It's almost done, right? Need a Tylenol here…" I stood watching and holding Kate's spasming hand tightly. The burly guard grinned at me, showing rotten teeth. I saw a burst of sparks and was knocked to the floor, electricity jolting through my body. A box of full syringes came crashing down on top of me, one injecting itself into my arm. My healing was too drained from the electric shock to stop it. My eyes rolled back into my head and I blacked out.

When I came to, my vision was fuzzy and I had my arms pulled behind my back and held there in an iron grip by Mr. Burly Rotten Teeth. The scientist was shining a light into Kate's eyes, who didn't respond.

"Massive power surge," he mumbled, "I told you this wasn't the best part of town."

"What's wrong with her?" he said, motioning to me.

"Electricity hit her. Must be an abnormal, she healed quickly enough." He picked up the empty syringe off the ground. "And…she might have been injected with one of these."

"What? Those cost—" Mr. St. Pierre started, then, "Never mind, what's it going to do to her?"

"Well, this was the second method of removing the suit."

"Look at her, Ray. No suit."

"I know," the scientist looked nervous, "It inhibits brain function is certain areas. Clear, logical thinking, emotion control…"

Mr. St. Pierre turned his attention back to Kate, in his precious suit. "And her? Is she dead? Ray? Is she dead?" The scientist dabbed at her eyebrow.

"She's alive," Ray said, staring daggers at him.

"Good." Mr. St. Pierre got angry again over something I couldn't quite make out. I was in some sort of a stupor. I wanted to escape. It was too easy as it was now though. I wanted to have some fun. How could I heat things up a little? Mr. St. Pierre stormed out of the room and Kate stirred. The scientist didn't realize until it was too late. I saw my chance. I silently choked the man pinning me and let him slide softly to the floor unconscious. Kate approached Ray, who was still fiddling with the machine. He looked behind him and saw the empty table. He slowly turned around to find himself face to face with Kate.

"Hi handsome," she said, sending him flying easily with one push. She regarded me and the guy on the floor coldly. I grinned and she cocked her head with a slight smile. She laughed. "Oh, I like this," she said smoothly as she walked over to Ray. She moved past him and waited for me at the door. "Shall we?" she asked, a maniac glint in her eye.

"Hell yeah," I answered. In one fluid movement, we kicked open the lab doors, shattering metal like it was nothing. We prowled through the facility like cats on a hunt, and made it to the door easily. The receptionist wasn't there anymore. Kate pushed the warehouse door open and surveyed the view. Much to my surprise, Magnus's car pulled up.

"Is that…the suit?" Will asked, getting out of the car.

"Kate, thank God!" Magnus said, coming toward us, "Good job Tayla. Come with us, quickly!"

We regarded them amusedly. Kate laughed, shaking her head. "Hell no." The smile dropped off Magnus's face. "I'm just getting started." She picked up one of the nearby garbage canisters and hurled it at them, barely missing. "Sweet," she said. She started running toward another building. I cocked my head, grinning. "Ciao!" I sent my pocketknife whizzing Henry's way, cutting a gash in his sleeve. I leapt after Kate, I laughed as I went. Agile as a cat, she leapt to the windowsill of the building, swing up to each of them and reaching the rook in no time at all. I followed her, jumping and landing perched on the edge. Magnus and Will stared up at us. I grinned down at them before following Kate off the roof. To stay with me, she chose to not fly to her destination. We moved from roof to roof easily, not really caring where we were going. It was enough to know we had absolute power, and that we'd never have to listen to what anyone says again. I knew Kate had an idea when she stopped suddenly and I skidded and fell off the roof we were on. Trying to preserve my last scraps of dignity, I jumped back up in one movement, landing in a kneeling position. She laughed at me, mocking me, and tried to push me off again but I held firm. Suit against vampire, but which was stronger? Her arm pushed against my chest hard, and I was struggling not to slide backward. Kate's initial confident smile faded as I continued to resist her. Finally, she released me and stepped back.

"Don't want to waste all our energy before we even start," she said, pulling me to my feet easily.

"So, where to?" I asked.

"Well, Magnus and the crew always have the best ideas," she said with a sly grin. Listening, I detected Will's voice inside the lab.

"If her executive function has been compromised, she has no inhibitors. Her primary emotions will rule her every move," he said.

"That could get weird," Henry said.

"Yeah," Will said.

"And Tayla?" Magnus asked.

"She was injected with the alternate form of what this machine was meant to do. It was too instable, so we chose t use this machine instead," Ray answered. I guess Kate's throw didn't kill him. Too bad.

"But she didn't have the suit," Henry objected.

"It doesn't matter," Will sighed, "It will still do the same thing to her system."

"Why was it put out of use?" Magnus asked.

"The serum was so unstable, it caused our subjects to bouts of rage and depression," Ray answered, "Along with, as you said, compromising her executive function."

"That's not my first concern," Magnus said, "How long do these affects last?"

"The machine remaps the subject's neural pathways," Ray said, "as does the serum. Unless it is undone, the brain will continue to remap itself, potentially leading to an aneurism."

"We have to get the suit off her before it kills her," Magnus said, "and get them both back to the Sanctuary for immediate treatment."

"Tayla's brain should take longer to succumb to the serum, because of her healing powers, right?" Will asked. Nice to know he was worried about me.

"We can't know for sure, but I would say yes. We need to find them both."

"What do we do?" Henry asked.

"I have an idea," Magnus said.

"So?" Kate asked, breaking me from listening.

"It's as we thought," I said, "They're coming after us. And no ideas."

"Darn," Kate said, but then a thoughtful expression came over her face. "I have an idea," she said, "There's this guy, Brad, who double-crossed me back in my abnormal hunter days."

"Sounds good," I replied, "You go via the ground, and I'll go via the roofs."

She nodded and we set off. We walked to the edge of the building roof and looked down. I jumped as high as I could, somersaulting in midair as the ground rose up before me. I landed squarely on my feet with perfect balance on top of a shiny new Prius, which caved in. Its alarms went off and I jumped from there to the roof of the next building.

After that I sprinted and leapt across the buildings, flitting like a shadow across the roof tops. But I was never going to blend in this way… I had to get a new outfit. Stopping at a nearby store, I chose a completely black skin tight shirt and pants, which I quickly changed into at a nearby alley. I tossed the soaking wet clothes I had been wearing in a nearby dumpster. I followed my instincts to the building Kate was in.

I scaled the wall easily and stepped out on one of the steel bars criss-crossing the bar's open roof. Around the middle, I flipped down under and held the bars with my arms and feet, like a spider on a web. Below, I watched Kate talk to the smirking man with the caramel-colored hair. Three other guys, like henchmen, lounged in musty chairs. The man backed away from Kate and his guys got up. I grinned as she dispatched them one by one, until they all lay on the floor, dead or knocked out I couldn't tell. _Nice one,_ I thought. She pinned the man and leaned over him, speaking in a low voice. I waited impatiently. Finally she pulled him up on his knees, said another word, and knocked him to the side. She left the building, and the three guys approached their boss, who was sporting a bloody lip from Kate's slap.

They gathered right under me, talking in low, angry voices and cracking their knuckles. I let go of the bars, claws extended and fell down at them with a feral cry. At the last second, they looked up and yelled, trying to move out of the way, but it was too late; I was already on top of them. Slashing through their clothes and ripping gashes, I finished my attack before disappearing out the front door before they could glimpse my face.

"How went it?" Kate met me outside.

"They think a holy demon from hell just jumped down on top of them," I grinned. We continued walking down the street. A strange sound reached my ears, and then a tingling sensation rushed through my body. Kate lifted her head before starting off in a new direction.

"Hey!" I said. I followed her as she leapt on top of a nearby building and slipped down through the rafters. We landed at the same time in a warehouse of some kind. With their backs to us were Magnus, Henry, Walter, Will, and a hooded figure who so was so tall it either had to be Druitt or the Big Guy. They turned at the sound of our landing.

"Easy," Magnus commanded, "No sudden moves." We faced them and walked carefully toward them.

"Go ahead Walter," Magnus said, watching us warily. Walter walked forward.

"Hey, Kate," he said, "Hi Tayla. It's me, don't you remember?"

"Oh, the superhero," Kate said. "You wanna play with me?" she challenged as Walter reached out his hand. Kate's smile faded as she lifted her own to meet his. _Kate, what are you doing? _I thought, _Let's get out of here!_

"Come on. That's it little buddy," Walter said with a delighted smile, "Time to take out the trash."

The suit started to flow off of her onto Walter, turning red as it went. Suddenly it turned back and flowed back to Kate.

"No, don't go!" Walter said.

Kate stared at her hand in confusion. A car screeched into the warehouse. Kate and I took off. "Kate, wait!" Will said as she started up a copper beam. After a frightened look at the car, I leapt after her, disappearing out a maintenance door. _That was close,_ I thought.

_I know,_ said Kate. I stared at her in confusion, but she didn't seem to notice anything. How could she have heard my thoughts, much less answer them? With an unspoken agreement, we headed south toward an old warehouse on Gridley Street, trying to get away from Mr. St. Pierre and his men. We were just passing Birque Ave. when a small boy pointed at us and tugged his mother's sleeve. She bent down to listen to him and we leapt over a fence and out of sight. After a while we relaxed, though, and went back to wandering the streets. We were in a narrow alley when I detected Henry's voice. Unsure how this worked, I thought, _Um, Kate?_

_Yes?_ came her irritable reply.

_Henry's found us. Jump to the ceiling? He's almost here._

She nodded and flew upwards towards the creaky rafters. I jumped and latched on, swinging from each like monkey bars on a playground. In a few seconds, I was on the opposite side. Henry came in, looking nervous and holding a weapon.

"Hey, Kate? Why don't you come on out. I promise I won't comment on how hot you look," Henry called. I kicked hard against a metal barrel stacked up on the rafters. It clanged, echoing through the warehouse. He turned my way, giving Kate time to drop down behind him. He jumped, startled, and whirled around to face her.

"Oh, wow."

" Hey Hank," she said, smiling teasingly.

"Hey," he said. He tapped his earpiece. "I got a visual. Alley behind Morgan Avenue." I dropped down silently behind him.

"Listen, Kate, I don't want to shoot you…" he said, "but I will if I have to." She smirked at him disbelievingly.

"Really?" she asked. He gulped and nodded. "What if I told you there was a vampire waiting behind you to slice your throat out?"

He turned slowly, trying to look behind him and keep a watch on Kate at the same time. I bared my fangs at him. Kate leapt to the side and he turned and fired, missing by a long shot. Kate appeared at my side, holding his stunner.

"You really need to let me give you some lessons," she said, running her hand along its length. Henry stared between it and his hands.

"What the…?" She approached him, who put his hands in the air and backed away.

"Hey Hank…" she said. She pulled him toward her and kissed him. I watched, decidedly unimpressed.

"Sweet dreams…" she whispered. She shot him with his own stunner and he crumpled to the ground. She grinned at me and tossed the weapon aside. I joined her walking toward the exit. The Big Guy suddenly stood in front of us, pinning Kate and me. He lifted us both into the air with a growl.

_Chest kick,_ she said in my mind. We kicked out, somersaulting through the air and landing on our feet. The Big Guy recovered quickly and resumed a fighting pose. Kate laughed as Big Guy motioned for her to bring it on. She flew at him and he let out a wild cry. She smacked him across the face and he too crumpled to the floor. She stood over him and laughed.

"Nothing personal, Big Guy," she said, stepping over his unmoving body. She stopped suddenly, swaying slightly.

_What is it?_ I asked. There was no answer. She reached up to her eye and stared down at her finger, red with blood. She shook it off and kept going.

_Kate? _I thought.

Her answer was faint but distinct. _I'm fine, keep moving. Magnus and Will won't be far behind._

We ran outside and up some stairs to the roof. Footsteps came behind us, and I risked a glance back to see Will coming after us. H shot at Kate, who ducked and the shot passed harmlessly above her head. We kept running up and Will came after us after giving Magnus our location. We met him at the top of the stairs.

"Howdy William," Kate said. Before he could even raise his stunner, she kicked him hard in the chest and send him flying backwards down the stairs. He collapsed far below on the ground and Kate laughed. We continued across the roof and then jumped off, landing on one knee.

"Stop right there," Magnus said. We looked at her and grinned. We stood up as one and Magnus looked slightly surprised and daunted by the prospect of us working together. We walked toward her freely. She adjusted her grip on her stunner.

"Not again," Kate said.

"I don't know," I pondered from Magnus's other side, "The last three were pretty fun" I grinned, showing pointed fangs. Magnus looked at Kate and I and released the weapon and held it to the side.

"Kate," she said, "You're in grave danger. Your mind has been damaged; you need to get the suit off of you!"

"This suit," Kate laughed, "is the best thing that ever happened to me, and you are not taking it away." She strode past Magnus, toward a nearby side alley. I followed them, slightly amused, waiting for the inevitable.

"Kate, please, you're not thinking clearly, you need to listen to me." Kate caught her by the throat and pinned her against the railing. I heard noises down the alley. I turned to see Henry. I strode toward him, tuning my ears to what was going on back there. He paled as I approached. I put one finger to my lips and he relaxed slightly, thinking I wasn't here to hurt him. He was wrong. With one swipe, I knocked his head into the crate he was kneeling in front of. I pried the stunner from his loose fingers and shot him with it for good measure.

Back in the alley, Kate was still holding Magnus by her throat.

"I think we're done talking," Kate said, slowly and distinctly.

"Have I ever lied to you?" Magnus gasped, "Or to Tayla?" Kate stared at her. "Somewhere deep down, you know I'm telling you the truth." Kate released her and I joined them. She stepped away, still staring confusedly at Magnus.

"Look out!" someone called. Walter hurtled toward us. A man, one of Mr. St. Pierre's henchmen, took aim with his weapon.

"Walter, no!" Magnus yelled.

"Get down!" he said to Kate, running toward us. The man fired and Walter blocked the shot with his body. We all just stared as he crashed to the ground. Magnus raised her stunner and shot the man in the face.

"Walter!" she said and went over to him. He lay on the ground, eyes closed. It started to rain. Cold drops splashed against my arms and face as Magnus knelt down beside him.

"Dear God," Magnus said. His eyes blinked open, but he looked dazed and confused.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Nonsense, that was incredibly brave," she said, causing him to smile.

"I just wanted…" he began before slipping off into unconsciousness.

"Walter!" Magnus said, checking his pulse. Kate and I approached behind her. I could sense the turmoil in her mind. Magnus slowly looked up at her.

"He's going to die. Kate, he _needs_ the suit," she said. Kate stared off into the distance for a second and I could tell that a moment of clarity shone through the haze. The suit flowed off her and she fell to the ground. I caught her and lowered her body gently to the ground. The suit continued to flow off her, leaving her lying with her bare skin on the concrete. The suit turned red and completed Walter's mask. His eyes blinked open.

"Walter, can you hear me?" Magnus asked. He smiled and popped up from the ground, startling us all.

"Better than ever!" Magnus's eyes fell on Kate, and she removed her jacket and draped it over her unmoving form. Magnus rested her hand on Kate before reassuring her, "You'll be alright."

"We can take it from here," a voice interrupted us, "Boys!" His men raised their weapons.

"Don't be foolish, Virgil," Magnus warned. I gently picked up Kate's body and moved it somewhere safe, out of the range of their guns. Walter made quick work of their men and Magnus had a long talk with Virgil St. Pierre, who then left with his men. She crossed back over to Walter. "We need to get Kate back to the lab as soon as possible."

"Let me take her, it'll be faster," he said, scooping her up.

Magnus looked mildly surprised by the turn of events. "Thank you, Walter."

"No problem," Walter said. He flew up into sky and out of sight. Magnus smiled as she watched him and then turned to me, but I was already gone.

It took me well over an hour to get back to the Sanctuary. Exhausted as I was, I still managed to somehow scale the perimeter wall. I forgot the perimeter alarms however, and set them off as I jumped inside. I decided to just go to the front door. I rang the doorbell and Henry opened it warily, admitting me inside. I had just enough time to see Will raise the stunner and see the blue energy speeding toward me before I fell to the ground. My healing powers struggled to keep me awake, but in the end they succumbed to the mind-numbing effects of the stun blast.

When I woke up, I was lying on a soft bed in the infirmary. I twisted my head to the left to see a row of empty beds, their white cloth smooth and unwrinkled. On my right, Kate was reading a magazine.

She noticed me. "Well," she said, "Good to see your eyes."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, pulling myself up into a sitting position.

"It's not that," Kate smiled, "You kept going in and out of vampire mode for a while. Magnus couldn't approach you to give you the treatment."

"Oops," I said, "Sorry."

"That's quite all right," Magnus came swiftly in, "You seem to be fine now anyways."

Kate lifted her magazine and, from behind it, asked, "Are they still mad at us?"

"Oh, they'll get over it," Magnus said, smiling. "Hurt pride more than anything else."

"When can we get out of here?" I asked, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. She pushed me back onto it.

"Not yet," she said, "Perhaps tomorrow. But while you're waiting…"She smiled and dropped something heavy on my lap. "Paperwork!"

My head hit the pillow. "Never mind, I'm going to sleep," I said, the pillow muffling my words. She got up to go.

"Wait, Magnus!" I began, "How is it possible for us to have communicated telepathically?"

"Neither of us are telepathic," Kate put in.

"Actually, I'm not so sure about that," Magnus said. We both stared at her. "Well, remember the Cabal's original vampires," she said, "They communicated telepathically. Tayla could have that ability."

"But what about me?" Kate asked, "How could I talk back?"

"I have a theory on that as well," Magnus said, beginning to pace the room. "The bugs that make up the suit communicate with the host telepathically. Although you have no telepathic powers, they do. It's possible that Tayla was not communicating with you. She was communicating with the bugs in the suit, which received and broadcasted your messages."

"Huh," I said thoughtfully.

"All right, I'll let you rest then and get on with that paperwork," she said, leaving the room and shutting the door carefully behind her.

**~~o0o~~**

A few days later, Magnus called me into her office. "Konji called," she said carefully.

Uh oh. I'd completely forgotten about George. "Umm…yeah, about that…" I shifted uncomfortably.

"You disobeyed a direct order from me," Magnus said slowly, "endangering the public, yourself, and George. He never caught those Cabal vampires after you left, and any damage they do is now blood on your hands."

"I had to come!"

"By doing so you endangered your life!"

"I could not help what happened to me once I got here."

"It never would have happened if you had obeyed my order."

"So it's a bad thing now, to want to help a friend?"

She sighed. "Of course not Tayla. I'm sure Kate was grateful for you being there."

"Then what's the problem?" I asked.

"The problem is that this shows to save a friend, you would sacrifice the world." I bowed my head, neither confirming nor denying her statement. "You may go, Tayla," she said. I nodded and left the room.


	16. Animus: I Get a Cat

**Animus - I Get a Cat**

**TV-14 L**

Though there were more people here than usual, the Sanctuary felt strangely empty. Nikola was visiting, but he and Magnus spent most of their time in the library, poring over the mini-city built there. Often times I went down there to help, since I had nothing else to do until the mission scheduled for four o'clock this afternoon. Kate had left with the Big Guy on a mission two days ago. I think the Big Guy volunteered to go with her because there was really nothing going on around here. Henry and Will were AWOL, doing whatever it was they did when not on a mission. Right then, Magnus, Nikola, and I were working in the library. Nikola was getting frustrated, I could tell. Magnus was getting a musty old book from the top shelf of her enormous bookcase.

"Oh, so I give you the best hours of my life, and this is how you repay me, huh?" Nikola said. "You teasing Harlot from Camden. Talk to me!" he said to the building.

"Nikola, really!" Magnus said from high above us.

"Oh no, it knows what I'm saying," he said, "Don't you? Yes, precisely." I rolled my eyes and continued flipping through my book of architecture, looking for any matches to what now resided in the library.

"You know it's been six days of this," Magnus said, pulling a book from the shelf. "My wine cellar's depleted and frankly, you need a shower."

"Where would science be today if I constantly stopped to bathe?" Nikola asked as he circled what looked like a chapel, "It's so damn confounding. Perhaps Gregory's merely toying with us."

"No, no, nothing my father ever did was random. There's a puzzle here, a puzzle he expects me to solve. It must be important."

"Well, I hate disappoint dear old Pater, but clearly this city can't exist."

"Not currently, no, of course, it's far too large to go unnoticed," Magnus agreed.

"No, I mean, even if it did exist, it couldn't," Nikola said, talking in circles without realizing it. "It's architecturally impossible: we don't have the building materials or the technology available to build such an urban leviathan."

"The builders of this hologram might have. Speaking of architecture, there's a mosaic on one of these buildings. Now, there are subtle, but very definite similarities between the symbols on that mosaic and these ancient Sumerian cuneiforms."

"Be still, my heart," Nikola said.

"Sumerians," I said, "The people who lived in southern Mesopotamia."

"Yes. The symbol for the sun. The word 'sumer' translates as 'land of the lords of brightness.' "

"A sun?" Nikola asked.

"Mmm," Magnus said.

"A sun," Nikola said, turning, "Now I seem to recall seeing…look on the top of that skyscraper!" He stepped over the railway, which lowered itself into the ground for him. "It's the same symbol," he said, stepping closer. He touched the symbol and turned it. I beam of light shot into the air and projected another three discs inscribed with symbols.

"There's another one of those," she said, crossing the room. "Here."

"There's another right here," I said, twisting it. It was slightly warm to the touch, like a laptop's bottom casing after it's been on for a while.

"Does this remind you of anything?" Nikola asked.

"Progressive sequencing. Like tumblers in a combination lock," Magnus answered.

"Exactly," Nikola agreed.

"I think we may have just found a way in," Magnus said.

"That's great," I said, consulting my watch, "but I have to go now."

"Okay," Magnus said distractedly, "Have fun."

"Will do," I grinned. I almost tripped over a building on the way out. I had to grab Nikola's shoulder to keep from falling over. He smiled.

"Don't read anything into it," I told him.

"Of course not," he smiled at me, showing a glimpse of his vampire teeth, which were extraordinarily still vampiric even though he was technically no longer a vampire. I rolled my eyes and headed out the door. I pulled out a light blue bike out of the shed and mounted it. I sped off down the road, heading to the docks. As I neared Dead Bridge, my phone rang. I stopped in the nearest parking lot to answer it. It was Will.

"Hey, Will, what's up?" I asked, "You know I'm on a mission right now."

"Oh, sorry," he said, "I think I miscounted the hours. I meant to call before you left."

"What do you mean? Aren't you at the Sanctuary?"

"Way to pay attention, Tayla," he said, "No, Henry and I went to England to check out some werewolf sightings."

"Does Magnus know?" I asked.

"Been leaving notes on her computer for the last few days," he replied.

"Yeah….she doesn't," I said with a laugh. "She and Nikola have been hammering at that city for days."

"Oh well," he said, "Anyway, just wanted to tell you, we might be a while. The London Sanctuary is standing by for back up. Henry's enrolling as a patient in a nearby medical facility because he thinks it has something to do with it."

"Wow," I said, "Okay. Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem," he said, "See you."

"Bye," I said. I put the phone back in my pocket and continued on my way. When I reached the dock, the faintest rays of orange were starting to streak across the sky. Sunset was beginning. A short man with large, misshapen ears waddled toward me on his short, stubby legs. His coat and trousers were patched and worn, and his hair was scruffily done up in a short pigtail. As he got closer, I could see his ears more closely resembled that of a bat, and twitched often at small noises.

"You'd be Tayla Magnus?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered, flashing my Sanctuary ID. The man inspected it and then shrugged.

"Got your crate in the back. A mother and two younger ones."

"Thanks," I said, and waited for him to fetch it. Small breathing holes were cut in it and the label read: _Warning. Live Cargo_. He looked at me, pondering something.

"What?" I asked as I secured the crate to the handlebars of my bike. He seemed to decide.

"I'm a business man," he said, "Thing is, this mother had another baby. But there's something wrong with it. It won't sell." He took out another, smaller crate. "Tell you what. I'll give you this one too for a quarter of the price." I gently lifted the lid of the crate to peek inside. A young cat stood inside. It was orange with darker stripes running perpendicular to its spine, going all the way up in rings on its tail. Its underbelly was white, as were the underside of its neck and muzzle. It looked so helpless, so cute, that I couldn't resist.

"I'll take it," I said. The man smiled and handed me the box. I produced the envelope of cash from inside my pocket and augmented it with $125 of my own money. I rode the bike to the other side of the docks, where several workers were almost finished loading crates onto three massive ships. The _Prometheus _and the _Daedalus _were docked in port, but they weren't the ones I wanted. I approached it with my crates, the _HMS Hammond_. I skidded to a stop in front of the workers and added my crate to the pile. I filled out the paperwork, which was surprisingly minimal, and was on my way back to the Sanctuary before it was completely dark. I rode my bike up to the front gate and punched in the security pass code. The gates opened to admit me and I let myself in the front door, knowing Magnus and Nikola would still be busy with the city in the library. All of a sudden, all the lights went out.

I stared up into the blackness and went to the window. Nothing outside in the city was affected, but something had seriously screwed with the electricity in here. I walked through the halls of the Sanctuary, looking for Magnus and Nikola. Eventually I detected their voices coming from a hallway ahead.

"That EM pulse knocked out the entire building," I heard her say. EM pulse?

"Phones, computers—" Nikola listed.

"Cell phones," Magnus agreed. "Luckily the abnormal levels are secured with backup power."

"Well, it doesn't do us much good," he replied.

"I did find an old vacuum tube generator that you might be able to resuscitate. At the very least, it could give us lights."

"Well, what about your…your boy? Can't he get it up and running?"

"Henry?"

"Yeah."

"He's gone with Will." There was a crinkling of papers. "Off to England for a Sanctuary version of R& R. Good luck with the ex-vampire."

"Figures those two would run off when there's real work to be done," Nikola complained.

"Will's been leaving notes on my computer for the last few days. I suppose we have been a little consumed," Magnus said, like she had just realized this.

"What about the other two, booty and the beast?"

"They're on a mission. Won't be back until Friday. It's just the two of us, I'm afraid."

"Mmm…in this dark and lonely place…"

"Don't get any ideas. I'm too exhausted to even banter with you."

"Wait," I called out, nearing them, "What the hell happened?"

"Nikola was rushing ahead and doing things he shouldn't…" Magnus said.  
>"Hey!" Nikola said, "When have you ever known me to put common sense before intellectual curiosity?"<p>

"When we're dealing with incredibly advanced technology, we don't just go pushing random buttons!" she said. "Now, we'll continue this in the morning."

"Fine. Go curl up with your warm milk, and I'll, uh, keep chipping away at the map," Nikola said with a small smile.

"Ah…I think you've done enough chipping for one night. There are obviously built in security measures that we have yet to understand. I can't risk triggering another catastrophe."

"Oh, come on, it's just one little EM pulse. I can get past it in a heartbeat. This is _me_ we're talking about here."

"That's precisely the problem. You are not to touch the device, is that clear? If you've got so much energy, go work on my generator."

"But—"

"Go fix my house!"

"What am I, your house-elf?" Nikola asked.

"Thank you, Dobby!" she called as she walked off down the corridor. We were almost at her bedroom when she noticed the crate I was carrying. "What's that?" she asked.

"Oh," I said, looking down at the box in my hands, "Just a spare abnormal."

"You better get it settled in," Magnus said, "and then come back here. That backup generator can only give us light for so long, we better minimize the electricity use in the rooms."

"Okay," I agreed. I left for my room, where I was planning to keep it until tomorrow when I could find somewhere else. I found a bottle of water and set it out in a dish near the crate, which I opened. I closed the door carefully behind me and made a quick stop at the library to get some information on it.

The entire city was gone and the paperweight sat on top of the map on the table. The library once again seemed vast. I pulled a few books off the shelves and headed to Magnus' bedroom. I slipped in the door. She was sitting up in bed and I sat down at the table with the books. She was reading something too, but what it was I couldn't tell. Apparently Nikola had got the generator working. I spread the books out on the table and opened one of them.

"What are you researching?" Magnus asked.

"Werecats," I answered.

"Hmm," Magnus said thoughtfully. "I seem to recall reading something about that a few months ago. _Felines: A Majestic Species_ is a good book on that."

"Got it, thanks," I pulled the book toward me and flipped to the section on werecats.

_The werecat, scientific name Felis sapien, has been written about in many historical books. Contrary to popular belief, werecats are fiercely loyal companions. Much folklore was written about them in many different regions. Not much is known about them, except that they can transform from cat to human at will, similar to a class-9 hyper-accelerated protean (otherwise known as a werewolf). Some researchers believe them to also have telepathic powers, but nothing has ever been proven on this point. _

_Werecats come in all colors, reddish brown in India and Africa, brown, black, or orange in Europe and the Americas, golden or orange in Asia, and gray in Australia. Pure white werecats are especially rare, but have been found occasionally in all parts of the world. _

_Werecats are solitary, but have been known to gather in great congregations in areas of seclusion occasionally. Scientists have been unable to identify who, or if, they have a leader, but they do possess many of the qualities of humans. They are not animals and think very similarly to us. They have a large intelligence, falling only a little short of a regular human's._

_Turn to page 10 for werecats in the Americas._

_Turn to page 20 for…_

I turned to page 10 and was about to start reading when the doorknob rattled furiously. The door opened and Magnus pulled a gun out from under the covers and pointed it at Nikola, who stepped into the room.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" she asked, still aligning the gun with his chest.

"Well, I could think of a dozen answers, but I'll leave that to Oscar Wilde. I figured it out," he replied.

She lowered the gun a little. "In the middle of the night."

"Well, that's when genius works best, doesn't it? Nice curtains, by the way. Lovely pale yellow. Or are they?" He shone on them with a flashlight. "Yellow." He switched flashlights. "White." He switched back. "Yellow."

"You're suggesting a spectrum shift," Magnus said.

"I'm suggesting going beyond the spectrum, below infrared. You don't happen to have a quantum cascade laser or a gyrotron kicking around anywhere, do you?"

"Not right on hand, no," she answered.

"Damn. Well, I guess we have to build one."

"Not tonight."

"Helen, don't you want to learn the secrets of the city your father sent you? What if it was built by an entirely new race of abnormals? Huh? You're just content to roll over and go back to sleep?"

Magnus sighed. "You're genuinely convinced that you can reactivate the hologram crystal by hitting it with a synchrotronic light source?"

" No, not reactivate it. Speak its language. Show it who's boss."

"You are brilliant," Magnus said with a slight smile.

"Don't I know it…" he slid his hand across the bed toward her.

"Now, get out," she said sharply. He removed his hand and stood.

"Okay."

As it turned out, neither of us got to sleep that night. I continued reading the book. Loud clanging noises echoed below us and I think something exploded once around two in the morning.

_North American werecats were often given to newborn babies to protect them throughout their life. Werecats usually bonded with one person only, although they were amicable to the friends of those they protected. They were vicious to enemies, though they were as loving as a normal werecat to their chosen person. They had great stamina, speed, and strength in their feline form, but were always much weaker than a normal human when they transformed (see page 42 for Werecat Care and Transformation)._

Yawning, I turned to page 42 to see a diagram of the cat's body and of a werecat in human form.

_No one knows how long a werecat will live, but many tales suggest that they died only with their person. It is improper to say owner because werecats did what they pleased and were not owned by anyone. It was a great honor for one of them to do your wishes if you were not their chosen person. Werecats are omnivores and can live off almost any type of food, though they prefer meat to greens. In the wild, they hunt small animals, fish, and fowl. Like a person, each werecat has different tastes. Some will like fruit, while others will avoid that and sniff out a spare piece of bread. _

_Most werecats prefer their feline form over their human one. Though at far distances they will appear completely human, there are definite but subtle differences in physical form. Their ears will taper to slight points and their pupils will always have a slightly elongated look to them. Their canine teeth will be longer than average and will be pointy instead of smooth. This alone does not distinguish a werecat, however, because some humans' teeth are shaped this way as well. They will be slightly smaller than a human as well._

A _tap, tap, tap, tap, tap_ invaded my reading. I glanced at the floor. There was a loud _Bzzzt!_ and then silence. I shared a glance with Magnus, who shrugged.

"Agh, you son of a…" came wafting up to our ears. I grinned and returned to my book.

_Werecats was often believed to be malevolent beings who aided witches and wizards with their evil sorcery. However, like humans, werecats are not inherently evil or good. _

The lights shut off. "Damn," whispered Magnus through the darkness. Nikola's call came up from below. "Oops. Sorry! I think I cut the wire." I rolled my eyes and then realized Magnus couldn't see that. The lights flickered but died out again. The first ray of sunlight came in through the window, revealing a sliver of the ornate bookshelf.

"One minute, I think I figured out how to restore the system," came Nikola's call from below, "Oh, wait, oops, I hope that wasn't the release for something nasty, oh, there we are!" The lights came back on and the room started to warm up.

"Finally," I muttered, closing the book. "I'll be down in the library." She nodded. I left the room and closed the door behind me. Deciding to stop at my room first, I headed down the hall for a stretch. I opened the door and looked for the light orange werecat I had left there last night. The box was open and the water dish empty. But the werecat was nowhere in sight. I stepped carefully into the room. I finally looked up to see it on top of my dresser. I reached up to put it on the ground and it shied away from me. "Oh, come on," I said. The cat only meowed. _Come on,_ I thought, _I don't have all day._ The cat blinked at me and I frowned. Did it…hear my thoughts? It couldn't have. But just to test, I thought, _I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a friend._ The cat meowed again and stared at me unblinkingly. _Yo soy tu amiga,_ I tried, _Je suis votre ami._ I glanced over at my bed, where Brisingr lay. I was reading it for about the hundredth time. _Fricai onr eka eddyr!_ The cat didn't move.

_English works,_ a voice, unmistakably female, said.

I stared at the cat, which sat up and licked its paw. The book had said it could have telepathic abilities, but this…?

_Okay…will you come down from there?_

_As you wish_, she said as she leapt gracefully down onto the bed.

_Who are you?_ I asked, watching the cat surreptitiously.

_We werecats do not have names until our person gives them to us._

_And who's your person?_ I asked.

_You, _the cat finished grooming.

"Me?" I said out loud.

_You,_ the cat repeated. Its tail twitched.

_Aeya,_ I said. The cat, Aeya, purred her satisfaction. _Okay, so I have a werecat. What now? _I asked myself.

_You feed me,_ its face turning into what was unmistakably a grin.

_Oh, God. It can hear everything I think? I gotta find a way to shield my thoughts._

"Stay here," I told the cat. "I'll be back later with some food."

Aeya lay down on my bed. I took that as a yes. I closed the door behind me as I headed to the library. Magnus was already there, along with Nikola and his device.

"Tayla, what took you so long?" Magnus asked as I entered.

"There was a hungry werecat on top of my dresser," I said with a yawn, "Would we happen to have raw meat around here somewhere?"

"Not right on hand," Magnus replied.

"Oh, and it talks," I said.

"Talks?"

"Telepathically," I answered.

"Aha!" Nikola interrupted us as the device turned on, emitting a pure white light that I couldn't look at directly. The paperweight that held the city began to glow.

"You see? It likes it," Nikola said triumphantly.

"Apparently so," Magnus said.

"Now fasten your seatbelt," he said dramatically. He turned up his device and the paperweight once again shot out beams of light, building the city around us.

Nikola snapped his fingers. "Ha! That's right; surrender your secrets to the master of electricity."

"Nicely done, Nikola!" Magnus praised him.

"Thank you," he replied, already preoccupied by the city.

"More Sumerian script. This could take weeks to translate."

"Or we could just…Pull the handle," he said as he hit a symbol and it began spinning. He hit another and all of them disappeared. Three more rays of light came out of the orb and ran along our bodies. A little red symbol popped up next to me.

"Seems to be scanning us."

A symbol, just like mine, came up next to Nikola, "Akhkaru? Blood demon?"

"Both you and Tayla…How do you know that symbol?"

"Well, my race has been blasphemed for centuries, but the point is, it seems to think I'm still a vampire." I swatted at the symbol which faded as my hand got about a centimeter close to it and reappeared when my hand moved away again. It scanned Magnus again.

"Uh-oh. Not just you two. All of us. It must be detecting traces of the source blood in our DNA," Magnus said as the symbol blinked into existence by her too.

"I'm not sure that's a good thing," Nikola said slowly. The city disappeared into blue light, which dissipated within a matter of seconds. All that was left was a single building with a smooth, dark, oval at the top. Lights swirled around it.

"It thinks we're a threat," Magnus said, looking around.

"It hit the self-destruct. So much for the tender underbelly," Nikola agreed.

"Umm, guys? What is…?"

"Oh…What the hell is that?" Magnus asked, staring at the building. It hummed, increasing in pitch as the lights swirled higher.

"It's a particle accelerator. Which means we could be in imminent danger," Nikola said, getting closer to examine it.

"Well, we have to stop it before it gets to the top."

"Okay, the particle track is bent using electromagnets, thrusting it into continuous acceleration until it reaches sufficient energy," he thought out loud.

"Sufficient for what?" Magnus asked, even though I think we all knew the answer.

"Boom," Nikola said softly.

"Can you reverse the magnetic polarity?"

"I can try," he replied. He placed his hand on top of the oval. It glowed. What is it with this technology and glowing? The humming changed tone again, and the lights stopped rising, circling the top without going any higher.

"Well, what do you know? I'm not the only genius in the room." He removed his hand and the noise resumed its previous level. The lights swirled upward again. He quickly replaced his hand on it, causing the hum to lower and the lights to stop rising.

"Oh, that's unfortunate," he said.

"Well, you can't just stand here forever," Magnus said.

"No, but I can stand here long enough for you to get clear," he suggested.

"I'm not leaving you—"

"Come on, Helen, we've played this out before. Get going."

"Whatever happens, we face it together!"

"And we never even said vows!" Nikola said.

"Whatever this is, it's intent on keeping us out," she said, changing the subject.

"At least it's more creative than garlic and holy water," Nikola muttered.

"And sunlight."

"Stakes through the heart."

"If we eliminate the threat, maybe it'll stop," Magnus interrupted us.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"Make us disappear."

"Elaborate…" he prompted.

"Create an EM shield around both of us, block the scan," she explained, but then thought it through, "Only you'd have to take your hand off the accelerator."

"Right. Well, hold me close, and either way, I'll die a happy man." She acquiesced with a grimace, placing her arms across his chest. I stepped behind her and slipped my arms around her. It reminded me of when I used to get home from school.

_I walked in the door, closing it softly behind me. I could hear Mom in the kitchen cooking something. I walked by the picture of my dad that was turned over because whenever my mom looked at it, she'd start to cry. I stealthily made it into the kitchen. The loud spitting oil in the pan masked the soft sound of my light footsteps. All of a sudden, I slipped my arms around her waist and she laughed, the most beautiful sound in the world. _

My trip down memory lane was interrupted by Nikola's: "Maybe a little tighter, you know, just to be safe."

"If you were any more transparent, you'd be invisible," she said, rolling her eyes. With an odd, indescribable sound, a purple bubble formed around us.

"Okay, hold on," he instructed. He removed his hand from the particle accelerator, whose lights began to flow up the tower to the top. He brought it within the bubble and we stood there. At the last second, all the lights flowed back down. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Magnus smiled. Nikola adjusted her hand so it was over his heart.

"Right, now, just, uh…Just hold there, and let's get to work." I placed my hand on her shoulder and made sure to hold it there. Nikola rotated us around and back towards the table. Magnus stepped experimentally to the side, and, when the shield expanded to accommodate her, stepped away from Nikola.

"You're telling me this is all the contact we needed?" Magnus asked indignantly.

"Yeah, sure, but, you know, it was a lot more fun the other way, don't you think?" She didn't answer but put a hand on his shoulder instead and approached the table.

"All right, the energy blast must have launched its inner defense mechanism," she said.

"Au contraire. It kicked it into high gear. The only reason that the alarm went off was because it found vampire blood coursing through our veins. Although I can't imagine what it has against my kind," Nikola said.

"You realize what this means, don't you?" Magnus asked, smiling, "The builders of this map knew of vampires."

"And despised us, and we almost died because of some old grudge," Nikola replied grumpily.

"You're not taking this personally, are you?"

"Me? Of course I am." He spun the device's dial. The paper weight responded like before and built the city around us.

"Looks like we made it to the next level," Magnus said as our shield disappeared. We let

"Remember, treat it nicely," Magnus reminded him as he stepped back into the city.

"Really nicely, not Nikola Tesla nicely," I added.

"I will, I will. All right, talk me through it. This symbol here, what is it? Clouds in a sky?" he said, tilting it to get a better view.

"I believe that's celestial horizons," she said, flipping through her book.

"Uh-huh, and... What about this one?" he asked, turning another symbol around in the air.

"Dwelling place."

"Dwelling place? This one here reminds me an awful lot of your bedroom door."

She looked up. "Ah, it could mean a number of things. Doorway or threshold or… Here it is. Ka haraug."

The city disappeared again. I looked for the particle accelerator, but there wasn't one. Instead, a giant blue globe hung in the air. Tunnel systems linked themselves to one central cavern.

"Voice activated," Magnus said wonderingly.

"What was it you just said?" Nikola asked, observing the map.

"Gateway," she answered, "Almost looks like another planet."

"It does. Could it be? A galaxy far, far away?" Nikola asked.

"No, this is not extraterrestrial. The tunnel systems correspond perfectly with the location of the continents here on earth."

I circled the globe. "North America," I pointed to it, "South America. Antarctica." I walked around to the other side. "Europe. Asia. Australia. Africa."

"Exactly. Three open calderas. The only way into the core. Nikola... This is our own planet, right here, right now."

"But miles below the surface," Nikola said.

"We're looking at an atlas," Magnus's eyes glowed, "A 3D map of Hollow Earth."

"Hey! Anybody home?" Will called from upstairs.

"Here!" I called back. The sound of multiple footsteps pounded above us. Will burst into the library and stared at the map.

"Whoa!" he breathed.

Henry came in next and stood by him. "What's going on?" a woman asked, walking in the room. Magnus looked up at the unfamiliar voice.

The woman was tall with straight brown hair that fell past her shoulders. She looked around shyly.

"Uh, yeah," Henry said, "This is Erika."

"You met her in England?" Magnus asked, looking at the woman with interest.

"Yeah," he answered, "I am not alone, Doc."

Her eyebrows rose. "I think you have a lot to tell me. Meet me in my office in an hour."

Nikola looked disappointed.

"We'll get back to this later," she promised.


	17. For King and Country: Secrets and Lies

**Breach and For King And Country - Secrets and Lies**

"What," Kate yelled from the other side of the wall, "is this cat doing on my bed?" There was an indignant hiss.

"Crap," I muttered, jumping off my bed and going to the door. I opened it. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"You got a cat while I was gone?"

"Long story," I yawned, scooping Aeya up. She struggled violently, twisting and clawing, shredding my shirt.

"Mmmph," Kate said as she dropped her bag on the bed.

_Shhh, you,_ I told the cat, who quieted after another hiss at Kate.

"Whatever. Well, I'm going to hit the shower," she said.

"Okay," I agreed, knowing she would be much more amicable once she could relax after the mission. I dropped Aeya on the floor and she padded dignifiedly into my room. I shut the door behind us. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay in my room?" I asked the cat. It didn't answer, only turned its lamp-like green eyes on me. "Never mind," I said exasperatedly, "Just stay quiet unless you know how to finish this math problem, okay?" I sat back down on my bed with the folder and paper I'd been slaving over for the last hour or so.

I don't get this. I hate exponents. I sat there, staring at the page without comprehending it. I only realized this when Aeya gave an impatient mew.

_Well, are you going to do this or what?_

I looked at the cat incredulously. _This is hard! Do _you_ know how to solve it?_

The cat leapt up on the bed and surveyed the problem. _No. But I'm not the vampire._

"Yes, that's very helpful," I said peevishly. The cat flicked her ear at me and leapt gracefully to the floor. Kate entered the room.

"Hey," she said, "So, what did I miss while I was gone?"

"Nothing much. Aeya arrived, Magnus and Nikola figured out the secrets to the city…"

"Wow," Kate said, "And who's the woman walking around?"

"She just left. She's a HAP. Henry and Will met her in England," I answered and then lowered my voice to a whisper, "Henry's girlfriend." Kate grinned.

"So, what are you working on?"

"Stupid math problem," I said as I tossed her the paper, "Look."

"Forty-eight minus sixty-six times open parentheses fifty-six x minus seventy-two x squared times eighty-four x divided by twelve," she read off.

"Oh, I think I know how to…" she began.

"Tayla, Kate," my radio crackled with Magnus's voice, "I need you down here."

I exchanged a look at Kate before throwing my math on my bed and vaulting out the door. She followed just as quickly, as did the cat.

_Stay here!_ I commanded her, but she ignored me. We rushed down the hallway, heading to Magnus's office. Will's voice already emanated from it.

"Are you sure?" he was asking.

"Quite sure," she responded as we came in. Will raised his eyes at the cat following us but didn't comment. Aeya hopped up on the chair in front of Magnus's desk. Magnus, to my surprise, didn't even blink. I guess my cat wasn't the weirdest thing that had sat in that chair. She looked at us before continuing with Will.

"As I said before, the message was quite clear. Suit up, we're leaving. Oh, and bring along those repaired scanners too."

Will nodded and turned and left the room. "We're meeting with an abnormal in an old building by the south library," she told us, "I'll drive; meet by the van in five."

"Okay," Kate and I agreed. She pulled her coat off the rack and headed for the door. I followed Kate towards the armory, where we each grabbed a flashlight and a radio, since we had both left ours in our rooms. On the way out I remembered to take a scanner from the cardboard box on the right. We met Will and Magnus by the van. I looked around.

"Henry's not coming?" I asked.

"No, he's got to stay and get that new prototype stunner done," Magnus answered.

"And he's got to keep an eye on Tesla in the library," Will grinned. Magnus opened her mouth to say something. I waited for her to object and defend her old friend.

"Nah, that's the Big Guy's job," she said, smiling. I laughed and I climbed in the car after Kate. Magnus drove us all to the abandoned brick building. As we piled out of the car, she commented, "Well, I guess it's time to help another abnormal come in from the cold into society."

"Seriously? Come in from the cold?" Kate asked as Magnus locked the van.

"Yeah," Will agreed with her.

"What's wrong with saying that?"Magnus asked, "It is accurate, isn't it?"

"I dunno. Coming in from the cold? I just feel like it's some sort of pulp spy novel from the 50's when you use those expressions," Will said as we approached the door. It creaked and groaned as Magnus pushed it open and peered inside.

"What's wrong with that?" Magnus asked, stepping over the threshold carefully.

"Nothing," he said quickly, "I just think maybe we can use expressions that are from this century for those of us who were born more recently."

"What does 'come in from the cold' actually mean?" I asked.

"See?" Kate tried to prove her point, "You should use expressions that aren't lost on the younger generation."

"If I use them, they'll be passed on to the younger generation," she replied, "And Tayla, we use it talk about someone—"

"Or something," Will cut in.

"—that becomes part of a group that was closed to them before," Magnus explained.

"Ok, well how about using Mafia terms, right?" Will suggested, "'Cause they're timeless. Like ah, 'Eh, he's gotta get off the street' or um, you know 'No no no, no no Frankie's going south."

"Yes, _Frankie_ will feel very safe with us," Magnus said, rolling her eyes. She found a panel and opened it. "Here it is." She pushed up the handle but the lights just flickered erratically.

"Hardly worth it, really," she said, raising her flashlight up again.

"All right, I'm thinking this guy's some sort of lizard type person. Doesn't hide well in public."

"Hence the stinky, out of the way meeting spot," Kate agreed.

"His message didn't specify his race. Just that he needed our help," Magnus pointed out.

"You always think amphibian?" Kate asked.

"When I don't know what the creature is? Yeah…I always go there," Will answered.

"Yeah, me too," she laughed.

"Or reptilian," I agreed.

Magnus only closed her eyes and shook her head. "You take the upper floors, stay in radio contact."

"All right, Tayla, you're with me. And could you both try to be a bit more…?"

"Welcoming?"said Kate and Will together, like they'd heard it before.

"Yes. Especially if he does end up being a lizard." I laughed as we split up to look around the complex. Magnus and I continued down the corridor as Kate and Will headed up the stairs.

"Doesn't look like anyone's been in here in years," Magnus commented as she swept the walls with her flashlight beam. "Is your scanner acting up?"

"Yeah, getting weird power spikes and then it corrects," Kate said through the radio.

"I got a bad feeling about this place," Will said. We headed up a flight of steps to the second floor. We could hear Kate and Will's boots above us.

"Thank you for saying it."

"You know," I said into my radio, "You work at the Sanctuary, you go to lots of creepy places, you think you've seen them all in your city, and then, boom, you get stuck in another one that's the creepiest of all."

"Okay, so we swept the third and fourth floor. If our friend was here, I think he got cold feet. Can't imagine why. Plus, I hate this place," Will said.

"Amen," Kate replied.

Magnus sighed. "All right, meet me back at the main entrance," she said into her radio. We turned and headed back the way we'd come.

We met Will and Kate by the main entrance. My flashlight was still in my pocket, as I could see better than most in the dark.

"I'll have Henry run a diagnostic on the scanner malfunctions. Who knows, maybe 'seriously creepy' is a parameter," Will said as we approached.

"The guy got afraid and didn't show. Where's the mystery?" Magnus and Will looked at her.

Will cocked his head. "Katie."

"There's always a mystery," Magnus said, talking in an explaining-to-a-little-kid voice.

"Uh-huh. That's adorable. I say if Mr. Shy Guy really wants our help, he'll reach out. Until then, as much as I love it here..."

"Unless he was trying to warn us."

"Of what?" Will asked.

"I don't know; there's something odd going on here. I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Yeah, this whole building has weird juju, like people died here." We reached the door and Magnus turned back.

"You want to stay? We can have Henry and the Big Guy scan the place from top to bottom," Will offered.

"No, no. We'll head back. I've left Tesla alone in the library too long. We'll come back later with a full compliment."

"Who wants a late breakfast? I'm starved," Kate said as she pushed the rusty-hinged door open, admitting us out into the sunlight.

"Oh yeah. Food. Great," Will said.

"I've still got that math to do," I said unhappily.

"Oh, yeah, I'll help you with that when we get back," Kate promised.

"What kind of math?" Will asked.

"Distribution. Exponents."

"Oh, not too bad. Maybe poor little uneducated Katie will be able to help you with that," he teased.

"Mmmph," Kate replied. "So I heard this killer joke yesterday."

"Huh. Hit me," Will told her.

"Okay. Knock knock."

"You serious?"

"Just go with it William."

"Ok, who's there...?"

"Knock knock."

"Are you serious?"

"Just go with it, William."

"Please tell me this is not going to be one _those_ jokes," I said, laughing.

"Fine. Who's there?" Will said.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and what sounded like a gun shot. We all turned to see the glass from the front door's window lying in pieces all over the concrete. A second later, Magnus and this other guy came tumbling out the door. They were both all wet and Magnus had a large cut over her eye that hadn't been there before. Her hair was in shambles and she panted with exhaustion.

"Magnus!" Will shouted as we rushed over.

"Oh my God! What happened?" Kate asked.

"Who's that guy?" asked Will, who had a hand on her back to steady her.

"Oh, we're in trouble," she panted. I pulled her to her feet while Will and Kate lifted the other man up.

"Stretcher," Magnus ordered. There was a collapsible one in the trunk and I ran to get it. Will unfolded it with the help of Kate and laid the man on top of it. His head rolled to one side, it seemed he was unconscious. His face looked sort of familiar, although I couldn't recall where I'd seen it before. We loaded him into the van as quickly as we could and, having no other medical equipment with us, scrambled into the car to get back to the Sanctuary as fast as possible. Magnus crouched in the back of the van with no seat belt or anything next to the man to help him if he woke up. Will drove, so she was pretty safe back there. If Kate had driven, well, that's a different story. Kate had decided to remain behind. Last we saw her, she was calling the Big Guy on her cell phone. We arrived at the Sanctuary and Magnus and Will unloaded the stretcher. I was charged with finding medical stuff and a real gurney. The first one I found was in a storage area just outside of the main hall, and unluckily it had a cat on it. I zoomed it down the hallway back to where the others were waiting. I arrived and shoved Aeya off, who landed on all four paws with an indignant meow.

_What was that for?_ Her voice invaded my mind.

_Not now,_ I growled at her, and, amazingly, she backed off and let us through. Magnus hooked the man up to the equipment hanging off the cart.

"We have to get him to the infirmary," she ordered. We pushed it down the hallway as fast as we could without smacking into anything. Will hit the elevator button three times in quick succession—something Magnus was always reminding us not to do, it wears out the buttons—and the doors slid open. Henry and Nikola looked at us with shocked expressions.

"Helen!" Nikola said in surprise.

"Doc! Oh my God," Henry said, staring down at the man enveloped in medical equipment. They both helped us maneuver the cart into the elevator.

"Security cell for this guy as soon as he's out of the O.R.," Will said.

"Done," Henry said quickly.

"You're injured," Nikola said to Magnus, who looked up.

"We need to send a full haz-mat team and cordon off the area from the public."

"Whatever it is, disaster story, you need to get it done," Will said to Henry.

"Right, well, Biggie's on his way to meet Kate, what the hell happened?"

"Nothing we understand yet," Will said.

"Copy that," Henry muttered. An odd expression came over Nikola's face. He gently removed the breathing apparatus from the man's mouth.

"Son of a bitch," Nikola said quietly.

"Who we got?" Henry asked, looking up at him.

"You know him?" I asked. He looked at Magnus.

"Well, I guess cockroaches can come back from the dead."

"Who the hell is this guy?" Henry asked again.

"Yes, I know him. Not one person, but two. Prepare to meet Jekyll…and Hyde." We all stared at Nikola until the doors opened again. Magnus and Will pushed the stretcher out the door with Henry following, leaving me alone with Nikola.

"What do you mean, Jekyll and Hyde?" I asked.

"Oh, he and The Five have quite a history," Nikola answered.

"History? He can't have been with you in Oxford, he doesn't look _that_ old."

"After living with Helen and being a vampire yourself, you still base age on looks?" Nikola asked. I didn't answer, only waited for him to tell the story.

"Oh, yes. Quite a nosy person. Always butting in, trying to see what we were working on. Tracked our shipments and such. He wanted to join, oh yes he did, very badly."

"But you turned him down?" I asked.

"That," he said as the elevator doors slid open, "will have to wait for another time."

"Oh, come on," I said as I stepped out into the hallway outside the library.

"I'll tell you more if you work on the map with me," he offered.

"I could just go to Magnus and ask," I pointed out.

"You really think she'll tell you everything?" Nikola asked. Okay, now I was intrigued.

"Fine," I promised, "But not now."

"Of course," Nikola smiled his vampire smile, "This way." We went down to the O.R., where Magnus was operating on Jekyll/Hyde. Will was standing in the viewing area, watching her.

"Homicidal little bastard," Nikola said, standing next to Will, "He should have come after me first."

"This how all Oxford classmates treat each other?"

"How much did she tell you?" Nikola asked with a slightly sinister smile.

"Just that The Five was almost The Six."

"Yes, well, in retrospect, there were signs," Nikola began, "subtle markers. But we were young, and, believe it or not, a tad arrogant. He requested to join our group, and, though he was bright, it was a unanimous decision to deny him. His experiments, though brilliant, were twisted." Nikola looked up to see Magnus finishing her surgery on Jekyll/Hyde. "Oh, excuse me," he said smoothly, "but I must be off. Promised Helen I'd look in on wolf boy." I followed him out of the room, as Magnus came out of the O. R. and around the corner. "This doesn't make any sense. I stopped the internal bleeding, salved the burn on his arm, and there's no sign of infection…" her voice faded off as we moved away from it.

"That paltry bit of history isn't worth working in the library with you!" I complained, moving quickly to keep up as he strode toward the elevator and hit the button.

"Too bad," he said as he stepped in, "A bargain's a bargain." The doors shut behind us and we descended smoothly downwards.

"It's not fair! You have to tell me more or—"

"Yes, yes, fine," he said, "but for now, shush." He stepped into Henry's lab.

Henry stood at the cluttered desk, unloading objects from a box and occasionally inspecting them under a magnifying glass. He glanced behind him, and, seeing Nikola, said, "Yeah, I know, you've been waiting," he said flatly, "I've been working like a dog—" He closed his eyes for a brief second and rephrased his sentence. "Very hard to get all this back intact…more or less."

"I'm not here to rush you," Nikola assured him, holding up his hands in a vague gesture of surrender.

"What? You're not?" Henry asked, looking up, surprised.

"No, I just wanted to see if you needed some help," Nikola said smoothly, "A vampire and an ex-vampire could be very useful…" He approached the box and peered in.

"Uh, no," Henry said, taking the next device he pulled out away from him and laying on the desk.

"Interesting, may I, uh…" Nikola said.

"Listen, whatever this is, it almost got the Doc killed, okay, so just—"

"I understand," he replied, moving around to the other side. I examined a small cylindrical tube inside the box. Henry unsuccessfully tried to slap my hand away and keep an eye on Nikola at the same time. I withdrew my hand, but Nikola leaned in towards the device. "Seamless construction. Perhaps a special milling."

"Or it's an organic hybrid compound," Henry said, pushing his hand away.

"But then I'd expect to see some structural deterioration," Nikola said, grasping the device by its sides.

"Yeah, that's true."

"Which I don't."

"You don't," Henry said, seeming to resign himself to our presence.

"No."

"Do you think it's something Worth created?" Henry asked Nikola.

"Or appropriated," Nikola said.

"Stolen from Hollow Earth," Henry said, beginning to catch on.

"Well, perhaps you and I can see if we can get it working again. What do you say?" Nikola suggested, picking up the device and turning it over.

"Yeah!" Henry grinned and then stopped. "Wait, is that safe?"

"Oh, no, most definitely not," Nikola said, cradling the device. "Thank you."

"Uh," Henry said pointing towards the device Nikola was carrying out of the room, as if he were about to object but realized it would be futile. I leaned over.

"When he says we, I think he means himself," I whispered helpfully.

"Thanks," Henry said sarcastically.

I followed Nikola out of the room and to the library, despite his attempts to lose me within the winding corridors of the Sanctuary. I guess he decided having me know where he hid the device until he could fiddle with it later was safer than meeting Magnus by chance carrying it around. He disappeared into the library and stuck the device on its end behind a large book on Hawking's mathematical view of alien life. He smiled that smile that I will forever associate with vampires at me again. "Now," he asked, "Where would I go if I wished to view the patient, dear old Worth?"

"Wait, _Worth_?"

"Yes," Nikola said, looking at me strangely, "Our very own Jekyll and Hyde."

"Not…_Adam_ Worth," I said.

"Why, yes, he is. How do you know him?"

"He's my great-uncle," I said, astounded. Nikola was just as shocked.

"My, my," he said, "Helen will be _very_ interested to learn that."

"Yeah," I said, still shocked, "This way." I led him out of the library and into the elevator. We moved down until we reached the right floor and the doors slid open. No one was in sight. I pushed open the see-through door and stepped quietly into the room, holding it open for Nikola after me. Worth's sleeping face was turned away from us. Nikola approached and tapped his fingers together over the bed. Suddenly, Worth's face turned toward us, his eyes open and alert. Nikola and I wrestled for control of the intercom to enlighten Magnus of this new development. He won when he threw a glass vial full of a dark red liquid—probably blood—at me and I, out of instinct, caught it. He pressed his hand up against the button. The intercom gave a slight screech before leveling out.

"Good afternoon K-mart shoppers, our guest is awake," he said. I laughed and Adam let out a weak chuckle. Nikola turned his attention back to him.

"Haven't lost your touch, have you, Nikola?" Adam asked, twisting his head. "And who is this?" He regarded me and then narrowed his eyes. "Tayla. Tayla Casparian."

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

He smiled, reminiscing. "Last time I saw you, you were a darling girl of three years old. Looked a lot like my Imogene…" He looked lost in memories.

"You visited me when I was little?" I asked. I felt an odd connection to the man lying on the bed.

"Oh, yes, he did," Adam said in a mocking voice, "Many times."

Just then, Magnus and Will burst in.

"Your protégé? Or a male concubine? He's nice."

"Adam—"

"Not available," he replied.

"Tell me, how is this, any of this, possible?"

"You mean how did I survive? Tell me your secrets, I'll tell you mine," he offered.

"You're ill. You need treatment. Help us, and we'll help you."

"Oh, Helen, you've grown so impatient in your old age. Play the game, don't just berate me."

"You could have just let him die," Nikola said.

"I think you might want to tick that one off your list."

"How are you still alive?"

"He really didn't tell you?"

"Who?"

"Good lad. So he carved up a few whores. We all have our quirks."

"You're talking about Druitt," Will realized.

"Score one for the concubine. Helen, if you want answers, you must talk to old Johnny."

"I can't."

"Helen…"

"I don't know where he is. He could well be dead, for all we know."

"Uh, actually…" Nikola began.

"Oh, what have you done?"

"Nikola?" Magnus asked, her voice deadly soft.

"You know where he is," Will said.

"Kinda?" Nikola said.

"Nikola!" she said angrily.

"Can we go outside and discuss this?" Will asked. We all trooped down to Magnus' office.

"Really, Nikola, of all the arrogant, inconsiderate, conceited—" Magnus berated him.

"Okay, okay, can we move on, please? Listen, Druitt came to me. He had this crazy idea that my electromagnetism could help exorcise his on-board energy elemental."

"Do tell."

"Well, I tried to help, give him back some control," Nikola said.

"And?" Magnus asked impatiently.

"You know Johnny. The word 'failure' comes to mind. He's still his nasty old self, what can I say?"

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because I promised not to."

"And you are nothing if not a man of your word."

"She has a point," I told him.

"I am…when it counts. Look, Johnny and I may detest each other, it's true, but with me no longer being a vampire, and him still being a stone cold killer, well, I really wasn't in a position to negotiate."

"Where is he?" Nikola sighed.

"Cambodia."

**~~o0o~~**

We were working in Henry's lab, trying to figure out how the devices Adam had set up in that building worked. Surprisingly, Nikola hadn't said anything derogatory for the whole hour we'd been here, even when Henry dropped one on the floor.

Henry broached the subject: "No nasty comments, no sarcastic cracks... You okay?"

Nikola gave the answer I least expected of him. He slammed the drawer closed and said, "No, I'm not okay. It took me—_me_, mind you—days to crack that holographic piñata up in the library, and then, after several bottles of Chablis, I finally get over my humiliation, and now this shipment of fresh hell arrives!"

"Okay, find your happy place."

"I mean, this is technology that…that I've never seen before, much less imagined," he hung on to the lamp as he scratched his back with a tool of some kind. "And, to be brutally honest—and and I don't want this getting out—" he pointed his sharp, pointy object at Henry, who had his best innocent face on, "I find it rather humbling, _and I don't do humble._"

"Copy that," Henry said.

"Would you like another bottle of Chablis?" I asked. Only I could tease Nikola like that, an invaluable gift. Only I wouldn't die from his 'master of electricity' powers. He threw the pointy metal object at me, landing straight into my chest, over my heart. I pulled it out, acting nonchalant even though it hurt (we vampires may have healing powers, but we're not impervious to pain). I dug the metal out of my flesh, biting my lip to keep the cry of pain contained. My chest healed a few seconds later. The only evidence of what had happened was my pounding heart and the bloody instrument in my hand. I wiped it off on a spare rag and tossed the weapon back to Nikola, who caught it with one hand.

"Okay, well, maybe if we pry all this open—" Henry said, distracting us.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Nikola warned, coming forward.

"Well, we've x-rayed it, we've pinged it—"

"Dropped it on the floor."

"You saw that, did you?" Henry asked, silently berating himself.

"And I didn't say anything."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's not going to go boom."

Nikola looked at him and then half shrugged. "Okay, have at it." He stepped back while Henry probed the device.

"I think this would be a good time for me to get out of here," I said.

"As you wish," Nikola said, preoccupied with what Henry was doing.

"Have fun arguing with the boss," Henry muttered without looking up. I turned and left the lab, taking the elevator up to Magnus' office, where a battle still ensued. They'd been at it almost an hour.

"You are not going to Cambodia by yourself! Not in your condition!" Will practically yelled at her.

"I can take care of myself!"

"I'm going with you," Will said, toning his voice down a bit.

"No," Magnus replied heatedly, "You're going to man the fort and keep an eye on Nikola until I get back!" I stood in the doorway. Neither of them glanced at me.

"You're not going off looking for a serial killer alone while you've just got beaten up and you haven't had a moments rest since," Will said, "I won't sanction it!"

"_You_ won't sanction it?" Magnus flared up, "Who are you to say what _I_ can and can't do?" Will was breathing hard, panting in his attempts to control his anger.

"Magnus," he said, cheeks flushed with exertion, "Just, please, I didn't mean it to come out that way…" She looked at him and her anger subsided a bit, only to flare up again at his next sentence.

"Magnus, look, just, please, let me come with you. Your hands are shaking, you still could have a concussion…"

"I'm fine, Will! You need to stay here. You're the only one who can run this madhouse besides me," she looked at him angrily, daring him to argue, "I order you, as second in command, to stay here until I get back!" There was a silence. Magnus had never ordered any of us to do anything before. He stared at her, and she looked straight back at him, showing no sign of giving in anytime soon.

Will tried again, forcing himself to sound calm and reasonable. "Then take Tayla with you," he said gesturing to me.

"Fine," Magnus hissed. She yanked me by the arm outside into the hallway, slamming her own office door behind her. I removed my wrist from her grip as we went down the hallway. We reached the van and she got in the driver's seat while I took the one next to it. My apprehension was groundless, however, because she drove rationally like always. I guess after a hundred years of driving you learn how to control your emotions in a car. By the time we reached the plane, she had calmed down significantly. We boarded the private plane to take us to Cambodia. Thirty minutes into the flight, I broke the silence.

"Who is he?"

She stirred. "Who?"

"Adam. Why does he hate you so much?"

"Not just me. James too."

"James…Watson?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

She turned to look at me. Her face, though beautiful, was slightly grim and haunted. "He thinks we killed his daughter." My expression must have given away my want to know more. She sighed. "We were in Victorian-era England, well after our years at Oxford. James and I were in the London Sanctuary, my prime workplace, although it was just 'the Sanctuary' back then. Adam burst in on us, and, of course, James was still smarting from our last encounter and asked him: 'Burn down any laboratories recently?' Adam looked desperate, but neither of us trusted him. He told us that he needed my help. His daughter, his life, really, was gravely ill with a rare blood disease. He'd tried every treatment, but nothing had worked. After a long discussion, we agreed to see his daughter and try to help her. Though the child of a university rival, a patient was a patient. Adam led us to her ward in the hospital of that day and age. He'd collected as much data as he could on her condition, but it proved to be futile. We battled for her to the very end, James and I, but the leukemia won."

"You tried your best," I said, "He can't blame you for that."

"He knew about the Source Blood. We could have saved Imogene with it, but we had never tried blood injections of that kind on a child. We refused, and Imogene died from her sickness. Adam was never the same since."

We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, some time later. Magnus pulled a picture of Druitt from her purse and started showing it to the locals. When no one knew anything, we moved on to another area. We started moving into the bad part of town, judging by the people. A girl, mid-twenties maybe (never have been good at guessing ages), passed by us. A harassed looking mother and her two rough looking boys that couldn't be more than eight years old pushed through the crowd.

"Have you seen this man? Excuse me, have you seen this man?" Magnus asked. At least, I assumed she was asking that. She was speaking another language. She could have been asking for the location of the bathroom for all I know. She was showing the picture around.

"Lady! Lady!" someone called, "You looking for tall bald guy, yes?"

"This man," Magnus showed the speaker the photo, "Have you seen him?"

"Uh…100 U.S. dollars," the girl said in a heavy accent. She was the one who passed us earlier.

"No tricks," Magnus said, stowing the picture in her bag.

"No trick!" the girl said, obviously happy, "100." Magnus handed her the money. "I'll give you the address."

"No, you'll take me there," Magnus said forcefully. The girl made a face and Magnus sighed exasperatedly. Eventually, the girl acquiesced, leading us to a side building.

"So he's in here?" Magnus asked. We walked in. We'd only taken a few steps when all the men at the tables turned and pointed their guns at us. The punkette who'd led us here had hers in Magnus's back.

"Oh…" Magnus said, holding up her hands in surrender. Of all the tricks to fall for.

"This is a bad place for you, girlfriend. We take the rest of your money now," the girl said.

"Really?" Magnus asked angrily. The girl jabbed her in the back with the gun. "Fine. Just relax…See? There's plenty here for everyone." She held out a huge sum of money. The men lowered their weapons as Magnus threw the money toward them. At the same time Magnus disarmed the girl behind her, I took the guy closest to us, giving him no time to react. Magnus cocked the gun and pointed it at the guys.

"Seriously?" the punkette asked.

"Move!" Magnus commanded, "How old are you? Walking about with a gun like this, you should be ashamed!"

"Hey, lady, we're on the job here. Bald head guy, he pay us to protect him. Told us we can shoot anyone who looking for him."

"So you really do know where he is?" Magnus asked. The bead curtain was parted as Druitt exposed himself from the back room.

"Of course they do. You're all fired," he said. He didn't look good. His shirt was half-way undone and his entire posture bespoke weariness. He looked up to see a shocked Magnus. The men and woman hired to protect him rose to their feet and reached for their weapons.

"Without the weapons. Go." They paraded past us out the door with their hands in the air. "John…" she turned back to him. He had gotten pretty close while we'd been preoccupied with the other men and the girl. He walked toward her and collapsed, eyes shutting.

"Helen—"

"Oh, my God," she and I caught him before he hit the ground. He crashed against the chair instead, holding himself up with one arm. She cupped his face in her hand. No matter what he'd done to her, it was obvious part of her still loved him. Her hands shifted lower to his neck. "Oh, my God, your pulse!"

"Tesla. Never trust a former vampire," Druitt muttered, his head lolling.

"I coerced him. Hold still." I supported Druitt's back to keep him upright as Magnus swung her handbag off her shoulder.

"I'm all right," he protested.

Magnus dug around in her bag, asking, "What have you taken?"

"Oh, a little of this, and a little of that. Local fare to kill the soul." She found a syringe and removed the cap. She flicked the needle and turned toward him.

"Here." She injected his arm. He sat up a little straighter and held his head up.

"Why?" he asked, looking stronger and more alert than before. I let go of his back and let him sit up by himself.

"Adam Worth. He's alive."

"Oh, no, no, no, no," Druitt said, his head starting to loll a little again, "It's impossible." He crashed to the floor. Oops. Shouldn't have let go.

"Yes, I thought so too!" She reached out to catch him but was too slow.

"Why?" I asked, "What happened?"

"Help John first, explain later," she said, "Help me move him to the couch." I agreed and we lifted him as gently as we could over to the couch. She gave him another shot of something in her bag.

"All right, he's stable for now," she said as she repositioned herself. "We were summoned by the prime minister of the king. He asked if I was a physician and I told him I was. He told me that he knew about my work in the Sanctuary and that I'd taken up my father's mantle. I told him he'd been misinformed, but before I could finish my statement, Nigel, the invisible man, James, the detective, Nikola, a vampire genius, and John arrived. He told us that the king had been aware of our exploits for a long time, but that they were waiting for a time when we might prove useful. The pompous man said we now had an opportunity to serve our country. Nikola, of course, in his usual manner, pointed out that he was Serbian, and James advised the Prime Minister to ignore him. The Prime Minister got straight down to business, and explained that a gentleman by the name Adam Worth, as a genius mind warped by rage and loss, had become, as he put it, 'quite a headache' for their Secret Service Bureau. He told us, in a roundabout way, that Adam had become a danger to society through the use of a stolen toxin. Nigel asked the question on all of our minds, couldn't the crown, with all his power, stop him easily? He answered that Adam had infiltrated the government. He also informed us that these orders came from the king himself. Druitt commented, 'Well, Victoria was wrong about him. Old Edward certainly does have a backbone.' Nikola asked, 'Kill Worth just because his lordship says so?' As you can see, none of us wanted to meet this threat. 'He's not a lord, he's a King. And, no, Go to hell, Mr. Prime minister,' was James's exact words I believe." She half smiled at her next thought. "Nigel always did love calling people names, and he found a way to utilize that here, although considering we were refusing to do the king's wishes that probably wasn't the best idea. 'Right, do it yourself, you lazy squids.' The Prime Minister changed tactics, telling us that this would be in our best interests, explaining that John was wanted in Scotland Yard for the Ripper killings. Nikola was a foreign national facing several charges on the misuse of electricity. Nikola, sounding so surprised, asked, 'My work is illegal?' Then, to my shock, he turned to me and told me that the same charges applied to my work. He threatened that the king could stop us all in our tracks. James hit it on the nose though. He was the first to call it what it was: a bribe. An unofficial pardon for John and Nigel, if Nigel stopped pilfering from banks, of course, and full governmental and financial support for my Sanctuary." She paused before continuing. "We decided to, at the very least, apprehend Adam, stop him from harming innocent people. We believed we were acting not just in the best interest of ourselves, but of the public as well. It was Cyanide, to be pumped through the city's massive network of gas lines. We barely managed to disable it in time. Adam, of course, was long gone. After that, we were under a tremendous amount of pressure, and he was still very much a threat. I had tracked him to a cliff, holding the weapon that should have stopped him. The others were close tried to tell me something about the place we were at, but I stopped him before he could finish, thinking it was just to give him time to evoke the Hyde part out of himself. He told me to finish it, and I shot him in the shoulder. He accused me of betraying who I was, telling me that we were a different breed, that we were not meant to serve the king. He was trying to save his own life, I thought, by convincing me that it would be in my best interests to work with him. 'I could have shown you so much. We could have learned so much together. In the end, your only legacy will be that you murdered me.' Then, to my utter and complete shock, he stepped backwards off the cliff, falling toward the river below. It came down to a choice, one I deeply regret, and I've had to live with ever since."

She shifted on her seat on the bed. She dabbed Druitt's face with a wet piece of something she pulled from her bag. She dropped it back into her bag and looked at him with an unreadable expression. It became tender, and she caressed his face. She moved her hands down to his arm, and, after a moment, lifted it and slipped underneath. She laid it across her. If I'm not mistaken, I think I saw his hand hug her to his body even in his sleep. She snuggled in, getting the feeling of love and security that she'd been denied so long. She rested her arm on his and closed her eyes. She stroked his arm, as if to comfort him. I could swear his arm moved a little, a feeble replica of the loving stroking on her arm. I watched them for a few hours, loathe to disrupt Magnus's time with him, the man she still loved with all her heart, no matter what he'd done. After about three hours, she shifted, getting up almost self-consciously with a glance at me. He rolled over onto his back, regaining consciousness. She pulled out a syringe.

"I owe you nothing. Leave me be."

"I'm sorry, John, to do this, but I need answers," she said, injecting him with it.

"Helen…" he murmured, "No…" He lost consciousness again as the sedative took effect.

"Help me," she said, the calm happiness draining from her as she came back to cold, hard reality.

"Yeah," I muttered.

The rest of the trip back home went smoothly. We received no more than dirty looks from the band who were now weaponless and out of jobs. Magnus made no more loving gestures towards her ex-fiancé, seeming determined to become the fearless leader once again and bury the pain deep inside her. We ate on the way over, although we only really picked at our food. Both of us managed to eat a significant amount, however, in the long ride back. As soon as we got to the Sanctuary, Magnus phoned Henry to reactivate the EM shield, just in case. But neither of us thought Druitt was going anywhere anytime soon. We headed to the lab after Magnus and I had changed from our dirty street clothes from Cambodia. Nikola and Will were inside. Will's brows were furrowed more than usual and he had a worried expression on her face.

"John's in the infirmary. I've told Henry to activate the EM shield again," she informed them.

"And the gang's all here," Nikola said from where he leaned on a table.

"So, what have you found?" she asked, looking at the computer screen. "Oh, damn. The platelets are continuing to group. At this rate, he'll experience complete organ failure and be dead within a matter of weeks."

"That's not Adam's blood," Nikola said, straightening.

"What?" Magnus asked.

"You can't be serious," I said, starting to realize.

"It's yours," Will said. Now I understood why his eyes were so red and his expression so gaunt, besides lack of sleep.

"I," Nikola announced, "am going to run some more tests." He strode out of the room. I suspected that was his way of coping. Will started pacing.

"There has to be something. Drugs that manage the effects of chemotherapy. Anti-radiation treatments—" Will listed.

Magnus only shook her head. "I doubt any conventional approach would work. This wasn't a normal dose of radiation, Will. It was something the human body was never meant to be exposed to. Moving through dimensions of time and space…" She laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. More like the shock of knowing she was going to die was getting to her. "It sounds so ridiculous when I say it out loud."

"And yet it's killing you," Will said.

"Poison's a poison," Magnus said calmly.

"Then we'll find the antidote! We will whip Tesla like a rented mule until he makes a breakthrough."

Magnus smiled, a real one this time. "I like the whipping Tesla idea." She faltered and grabbed the table for support. "Oh, dear." Will put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey…" he said.

"No, I'm all right. I just, uh, I haven't eaten in while." Liar. She tried to casually lean against the locker behind her. I provided some support with my body, but I could see that Will knew Magnus wasn't okay. "So, what have you learned about Adam?" she asked.

"No, no, no, you're exhausted. This can wait," he protested.

"We both know it can't."

"He's a textbook dissociative. Obviously there are two distinct personalities wrestling for control."

"The bully and the victim, all in one neat package." Magnuswas breathing harder than normal and shifting around a lot.

"Yeah," Will agreed, "My sense is that it's from sustained post-traumatic stress resulting from…the loss of his daughter." He faced her, as if in accusation.

"Which he blames me for."

Will nodded. "You and Watson. He says that you both refused to help."

"Of course he does," Magnus said, shaking her head. "We battled until the very end. We tried everything. The loss of a daughter, it's a wound that never heals."

"I think he's handling it differently than you."

"Do you believe there are other reasons for his madness?"

"His paranoid rage stemming from his belief that you tracked and murdered him."

"Are you asking if we hunted him down? Yes. Absolutely we did." She related how they had declined the Prime Minister. "We decided to, at the very least, apprehend Adam, stop him from harming innocent people. Had we failed, thousands, perhaps millions, could have died."

"I'm guessing it didn't end there," Will said. She told how Adam had stepped off the cliff after she'd shot him in the shoulder. When her story had ended, Will had his head in his hands, and Magnus was facing the wall, unable to look directly at him.

"When I took this job, I had one condition: no secrets. And now I discover that this whole place was built on the blood of a dead man?"

"It was necessary."

"He has a psychiatric disorder!"

"We didn't understand the mind back then, Will! We only knew he was a threat."

"To the public, or to your work?" Will challenged. I was shocked and enraged.

"How dare you?" Magnus almost screamed at him. "You've no idea wha—" She coughed, holding her blue gloved hand up to her mouth. She choked and Will seemed to remind himself that she was dying.

"Hey," he went over and touched her shoulder, "Magnus…" She pushed past him, blood on her gloved hand. She peeled it off and tossed it in the garbage on her way out. After a glare at Will, I followed her, knocking past Nikola on the way out in my anger. "Magnus, wait a sec! Magnus…"

"You know better than to follow an angry woman out of a room," Nikola's voice echoed down the hallway. "Especially two. Just let her go. She's not exactly herself right now. It's spread." Magnus leaned up against the wall as the elevator rose. She looked angry, sad, and utterly beat. The doors opened and we went off down the corridor. To my surprise, Magnus stopped first at the drug cabinet. She uncapped a bottle of bright red pills, shook one into her hand, and swallowed it.

"Magnus…you know…he's right. Pills just aren't going to work, you need to rest." She just looked at me, challenging me to make her as she slipped the bottle into her pocket. When I didn't raise any more objections, she went off down the hallway and into the infirmary, leaving me standing by the open drug cabinet. Great. I retraced our steps, meeting Kate on the way.

"How is she?" she asked, obviously having been informed by Will and Nikola.

"I…" I started, "I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Keep a close eye on her, Tayla," Kate advised, "She trusts you, and, however much she wants to deny it; she can't face this alone." Then Kate continued on down the hallway, leaving me behind with my thoughts. My feet walked randomly around the Sanctuary, and somehow I ended up outside Adam Worth's door. Magnus was inside. Kate's words echoed in my head._ Keep an eye on her, Tayla. She trusts you, and, however much she wants to deny it, she can't face this alone._ I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Neither of them acknowledged me as I came in.

"I know about the bargain you struck with John. The river. How did you survive?"

"And now we come to it," Adam said, "I asked Johnny to let me go down the river. He did, letting me die with honor. I was taken to the city, brought back from the brink of death, healed. They treated me as one of their own. Showed me things you can't even imagine."

"Your longevity?"

"Tip of the iceberg. It's the ultimate toy box. Nirvana for the gifted. Intrigued? I don't blame you for anything, Helen."

"I want to help you, Adam, help us."

"Let me take us there," he said, looking imploringly into her eyes. Magnus looked like she wanted to believe him, but then seemed to snap back to reality. She opened the door and we both left.

Early the next morning, Magnus called a meeting. I went to her study to find Druitt already there. Henry was sitting on the arm of a chair.

"Show him the map, Helen," he told her.

"And put all that power in his hands?" Magnus asked angrily.

"I'll handle Hyde, one deranged killer to another."

"It's too risky," Magnus objected.

"We're back to square one," Will announced, coming in.

"Really? We were so close," Henry said.

"We'll find a way, but Adam Worth is not getting that map, not on my watch," Magnus said with finality.

"Oh, about that…" Nikola came in holding a yellowed sheet of paper.

"Where have you been?" Magnus asked.

"Huh? In the library, boning up on the Sanctuary charter," Nikola answered, like it was obvious.

"Helpful," Will commented.

"Wait for it, sonny," Nikola said, "Apparently, if the Sanctuary head becomes physically or psychologically compromised, the second in command takes over."

"Dude, that is beyond cold," Henry said.

Magnus crossed her arms. "Nikola…" she shook her head.

"Where are you going with this?" Druitt asked.

"Officially, it's not your watch anymore, and the question of whether or not we show Adam Worth the map is no longer your decision," Nikola said. Magnus stared at the ground, refusing to look at him. She knew the charter by heart. Trust Nikola to go dig this up. But who _was_ second in command? This wasn't the military, we didn't think about one of us having precedence over the other, except Magnus of course. Henry had been here the longest. Will had been her protégé, but I was her adopted daughter. Kate had a con artist history. Somehow I was pretty sure it wasn't Nikola. Answering the question, Nikola turned to Will. "Over to you, William. What's it going to be?"


	18. Magnus Has Shot Me More Times

**Vigilante - Magnus Has Shot Me More Times Than I Can Count**

**TV-PG L**

Will nodded at Nikola. "Let's go." He left the study and went down the hallway at a breakneck pace, probably afraid Magnus was going to try to stop him. We all followed.

"This is a mistake, Will," Magnus said, hurrying to keep up with him.

"Didn't you hear him, Magnus? It's not your decision anymore."

"I don't care whose decision it is! The fact remains that showing Adam Worth the map plays directly into his hands!"

"And how is that different from what's happened so far?" Will asked, stopping to face her. "You're dying, Magnus," Will said, "He's played his trump card already." Looking angry, Magnus turned and took the other elevator down to Adam Worth's cell. Druitt and Nikola went with Will and Henry came with us. We all arrived at the same time, Will pushing the door open first.

"Well, someone poked the hornet's nest," Adam commented as we entered.

"You can get us to the city?" Will asked.

"Concubine, I'm impressed—" Adam began, and then jumped as Will yelled at him.

"Stop messing around! I want a straight answer."

"Of course. 'Tis a map, after all." Will glanced back at Magnus, who, as a last desperate attempt, shook her head slightly. Will looked down at the ground, closing his eyes.

"Remove the restraints," he finally said, his mind made up. Henry moved to follow his command, while Magnus stared up at the ceiling. The restraints came off and Adam twirled his hands, restoring their movement capabilities. "Look at me," Will said, "You make one false move, and you're back in here for good. Both of you."

"We," Adam said, "won't disappoint." Druitt lifted Adam by his shirt collar onto a wheelchair and tied his hands together with a chain. Magnus tapped me on the shoulder.

"Can you fetch Kate for me? There's no point in quarantining off that building anymore."

I nodded, "Sure." I slipped quietly out of the the steps up two at a time, I went up the stairs. I was rounding the corner when I realized the whole in this plan. How exactly was I going to get there?The sound of a car door slamming echoed into the hallway. Kate came up out of the room with a very disgruntled look on her face.

She took one look at me and asked, "Okay, what's happened?"

"Hmmm, let me see…Magnus is still dying, Nikola managed to dig up the Sanctuary charter, making Will head of the Sanctuary, and he's showing Adam Worth the map," I listed off.

"Wow," Kate said, closing the door behind her. I listened.

"Come on, they're in the conference room."

"And how do we know this isn't just some elaborate trap?" Druitt asked as we entered.

"We don't," Magnus answered, flicking through something on the computer.

"But at least we have something to go on," Will pointed out, defending what he'd done.

"Yes, we have the keystone, which will get us the gateway, the gateway, which will get us the city, and the city, which will get us the cure," Nikola said.

"Something like that," Will said, annoyed.

"I think Samuel Beckett wrote a play about this. It didn't sell," Nikola said.

"What do you got?" Will asked her, deciding a better course of action was to ignore Nikola.

"I was able to translate the cuneiform symbols into numbers," Magnus said, pointing to the screen, "Seems to be a set of coordinates."

"To where?"

"Northern Mongolia. Khovsgol Province."

"What are we waiting for?" Nikola asked with a slight smile. Magnus turned around.

"John and I will go. I need you to stay here," she ordered.

"Like hell," Nikola said, staring at her.

"The map was programmed to detect the source blood. I can only assume that the gateway has the same defenses," Magnus explained.

"Which means we'll need some kind of shield to get past it," Druitt supplied.

"And you're the only one who can build it," Magnus finished.

"I'm the only one who can build _and _test it, you mean," Nikola said, "You have a vampire at your disposal you know." He sighed. "Fine. Fine, go to... Khosol," Nikola said, butchering the name. "I'll stay here. Bring me back some Mongolian wine." He turned away. "On second thought, don't," he said, leaving the room with a slight look of disgust.

"Meet me in the foyer. We leave from there," Magnus said to Druitt.

"Run along," Druitt agreed. Magnus and Will's voices echoed down the hallway.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Will asked her.

"Absolutely. You?"

"What, running this place? It's a piece of cake." Will headed back the way he'd come.

"Will," I poked my head out of the conference room.

"Yeah?" he backtracked.

"Want any help with the paperwork?"

"That'd be great, Tayla. I've asked the Big Guy to give me anything needing a signature in my office." We entered to find a couple stacks of papers already waiting for us. I picked one up.

"Hey, this only needs an employee signature," I said, looking down at it, "How about I'll take all these and you take those?"

"Okay, Will agreed. I sat at the small desk while Will slowly worked his way through his pile. Once in a while, one of us would say, "Hey, done with the supply orders," or "Oh good, that's the last Sanctuary requesting money for new habitats." The Big Guy came in. He dropped a huge pile on top of Will's stack, which had been mercifully nearly complete.

"Whoa! What is this?" exclaimed Will.

"Supply orders, repair requisitions, inventory reports—"

"Oh, no, no, I signed those already."

"Those were yesterday's. These are today's."

"What? Okay, you know, they're going to have to wait. There's just too much else going on. The Grozny Sanctuary's been attacked by rebels, we're being audited in Norway—"

"Norwegians…" the Big Guy muttered.

"And they can't pay the electric bill in Asuncion because of the depressed Guarani. I don't even know where Asuncion is!"

"Paraguay," the Big Guy and I both said at the same time.

"I know," Will said, "It's in Paraguay."

"Mmm-hmm," the Big Guy agreed.

"How does Magnus do this every day?" Will asked, "I even have Tayla helping me and it just keeps piling up!"

"Stays off Twitter," the Big Guy grunted, "I was hoping to head into town tonight."

"Why?"

"Midnight vigil for father Jensen. Dozens of abnormals have already confirmed."

"Right, right, sorry, I forgot," Will said.

"Uh-huh," the Big Guy said, "I need those back by FedEx deadline."

"What's the FedEx—"

"6:00 P.M.!" Will sighed and turned back to his papers.

"You know what?" I asked, "You finish the FedEx deadline ones up and I'll do the rest while you're at the vigil tonight."

"Okay," Will agreed. I left the room and headed down to Henry's lab. Henry was fiddling with something on the desk.

"Hey, Tayla," he said as I came in, "Can you pass me that green wire?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, picking it up and handing it to him. "What're you working on?"

"What this?" He held it up. "Just a little experiment of mine. It will blow your mind. I'm…" he inserted one end of the cable onto the end of the device. "Almost…" He plugged the other end into the computer. "Done!" he said, smiling. It let out a fiery puff of smoke and the acrid smell of melting metal wafted up into the air. The device's once shiny parts grew blackened.

"Aww," Henry said, "Oh well, it's a work-in-progress. Maybe there's a problem in the command code that's causing the malfunction…" He clicked away at the computer.

"Hey," Kate came in, "Why was—What is that smell?"

"Just a little…malfunction," I said. Kate raised an eyebrow, but continued anyway.

"What's wrong with the showers?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong with them?" Henry asked, looking up from his computer.

"There's no hot water to be had in the entire residential floor!" Kate told him.

"Oh, crap, it better not be the copenikituses again," Henry said, moving to another computer. He typed furiously for a minute. "No, they're secure. Did I ever tell you about how one loose copenikitus—"

"The hot water?" Kate prompted.

"Right. Umm, I don't know what to tell you. It's an old building."

"I've had better showers in juvie. Seriously, Hank, you've got to do something!"

"Look, we need a new hot water tank. You want that, you've got to talk to Will," Henry said.

"Oh, yeah, right," Kate said. "Have you seen him since he took over? He's running around here like his hair is on fire, which it very well could be, considering the amount of gel he…" Henry signaled frantically for her to stop talking, but she realized too late. "Uses...He's right behind me, isn't he?" From over her shoulder, Will smiled, looking down at her. She gazed elsewhere, ignoring him.

"Henry, can you check on a missing shipment for me? We're supposed to take delivery of crates of abnormals, but we're missing one," Will said.

"What was in it?" Kate asked.

"According to the manifest, a colony of Cypher beetles," Will said.

"Oh, great, giant flying bugs," commented Kate.

"Yeah, well, they're in their dormant cycle, but we better find them before they wake up."

"Yeah, it's probably just a clerical error. I'll get on it," Henry said, "Ooh, hey. Umm, FBI's at the front gate." A woman flashing her FBI badge appeared on the screen.

"Huh...Well, I guess you better let her in. I'll check it out," Will said. I followed him out of the room and into the elevator. We were walking down the foyer when Nikola ambushed us.

"I need two hundred fifty thousand dollars," he announced.

"What?" Will asked, heading for the front door.

"Well, Magnus wants a Source Blood shield, and refined actinium doesn't come cheap."

"Okay, could we talk about this later?" Will asked, turning away from Nikola to open the door.

"Okay, sure. Why don't we wait a few days so she's had time to waste away into nothing—"

"Fine, I'll get you the money," Will said impatiently.

"Wow," Nikola commented, "You're even easier than the U.S. Congress." Ignoring him, Will opened the door.

"Will!" the woman outside exclaimed with a giggle. "Yeah—Abby," she added, due to Will's confused expression. "Corrigan? We trained together at Quantico? Partnered in that forensic exercise on bone fragmentation?"

"A-Abby!" Will said. He _so _didn't recognize her. "Wow…I—it's been, uh…What…what are you doing here?"

"Do you mind if I come in?" she asked before doing so. She held out her hand to Nikola. "Hey. Abby Corrigan."

"Nikola Tesla," he replied with a grin.

"Well, like the scientist," she said.

"Remarkably so," he said with a happy glance at Will, "Come on in." After stepping inside, she introduced herself to me too.

"Hi, I'm Abby," she said. I shook her hand.

"Tayla Magnus. It's a pleasure to meet you." Abby turned back to face the rest of the group. She stared around at the foyer walls, marveling at the enormity.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to just come unannounced, but—wow…I, uh, I didn't know where else to turn."

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"I work in behavior analysis now. Serial killers, stuff like that." Nikola caught my attention. He was staring at Abby with an odd look in his eyes. "Last month," Abby continued, "my boss puts a stack of dead cases on my desk. I'm supposed to just file them away, but, well, you know me. I couldn't resist just taking a look." Nikola was grinning now. With a flick of his hand, there was an odd sound and one of the metal buttons came undone on the top of her shirt. Abby looked down with a puzzled expression and hastily buttoned it again.

"I, uh…" Will looked at Nikola, "Sorry, what does that have to do with…"

"Well, one of them was from, uh, around here. Detective Stanley O'Farrell? Uh…killed a priest?"

"Uh, uh, uh, I'm sorry," he said to Abby. He turned to Nikola, speaking in an undertone. "Could you…not…"

"You're welcome," Nikola said. He smiled at Abby and then retreated to the end of the foyer. Will laughed uneasily, glancing between Abby and Nikola.

"I'm—I'm—I'm sorry about him. So, uh, the case, yes, uh, I—I think I heard of it, yeah." Nikola was grinning again, ready to flick his hand again.

"So you know what I mean when I say there's something hinky about it."

"Umm, excuse me…" I went over to Nikola and pushed his hand down. Will and Abby continued talking.

"Ruining my game again?" he asked, "You never worked on the map with me like you promised, Tayla."

"Adam's got it now," I said. I pulled him away from Abby and Will. "Go work on your Source Blood shield or something."

"Yes, because Will gave me the $250,000 I needed for the refined actinium," Nikola said.

"I'll get you the money!"

"Really? You know Magnus's codes?"

"Some of them. But she changed them to Will's. He uses the same one pretty much all the time." Once I got to a computer, I transferred the money to a blank account and gave Nikola access. "There," I said, "Now go."

**~~o0o~~**

After that, I made my way through the Sanctuary to Will's office to continue signing paperwork. Kate came in right after me, holding a flash drive.

"Hey," she said to Will, "These files you gave me, where'd you get them?"

"Uh, just an FBI friend. Why?" he asked.

"They're from Tartarus. Top secret satellite-fed database?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know what Tartarus is."

"Yeah, well, nobody has access to this stuff, not even us."

"Wow," I said, at the same time as Will's: "So?"

"So," she said, plugging in the flash drive, "Detective O'Farrell's autopsy reports. Magnus and I saw the official ones, and this ain't it."

"Well, what's different about it?" Kate flipped through the files.

"Well, how about cause of death? The one that we saw said 'aneurysm.' This one says 'unknown,' and check out all the medical data."

"They suppressed all this?" Will asked incredulously, scanning the file.

"That surprises you?"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Go back." She clicked back. "Yeah, there." A picture came up of what looked like blood, but there were unidentifiable objects in it.

"What are those things?" Kate asked.

"Let me check our database…" Will said, opening up another window. He clicked through it and found what he was looking for. The creatures looked exactly what I envisioned when someone said "parasite." They looked kind of like soft, squishy beetles. "Those…are Harper mites. It's a microscopic abnormal that floats harmlessly in the bloodstream until exposed to ultrasonic radiation," Will informed us.

"At which point it enters an accelerated reproductive cycle—"

"Creating a blockage, which could be mistaken as an aneurysm."

"Huh. So, Detective O'Farrell didn't die of natural causes."

"Nope. He was killed, by somebody using abnormals as a weapon," Will said. "See what else you can dig up."

"Got it," Kate unplugged the flash drive and left.

"All right, I have good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?" Henry came in.

"The good news, please," Will requested.

"The good—Oh…yeah, it doesn't really make sense if I tell it in that order. Bad news, the missing crate is still missing. I tracked it from its original destination, through all ports of call. According to everyone involved, it was on its way here as of this morning," Henry said.

"So, what happened?"

"Well, I called the driver, Angelo—"

"Wait; is this still the bad news?"

"Shut up, Will," I said.

"He didn't answer," Henry continued "But I have an idea."

"And that's the good news," Will said, almost sarcastically.

"It's a really good idea."

"Okay, what is it?" Will asked.

"Come with me," Henry said with a smile. He headed up to the roof with both of us following. He took a cage from the corner. A large bird of prey resided in it. He put on the glove and took out the bird. It sat on his wrist contentedly.

"It's a bird," Will stated the obvious.

"This is not just any bird, Will. This is a crimson kite shark, whose prey of choice just happens to be…"

"Cypher beetles?" Will asked.

"Bingo. Ziggy here has one of the keenest senses of smell in the abnormal world. I've been training him for years using oranges. If there's a Cypher beetle out there, Ziggy will find it."

"Unless he runs across a Tropicana truck first."

"Yeah, no, that's not going to happen. Will, it's going to be fine. Watch this. All right, Ziggy, it's time to go to work, buddy." He launched the bird off his arm and it soared off into the night. A GPS tracker blinked on his arm. "All right, with any luck, we should have that crate home in time for dinner."

"Well, if you do, I'm buying. Just make sure Ziggy doesn't eat dinner before we do," Will said, leaving the roof.

"Right."

"Don't listen to Will, it'll work," I told him. Then I headed down to the library. Nikola was coming in at the same time as me. There was a flash of red light as Magnus and Druitt appeared.

"Ah! Back already?" Nikola asked, striding in.

"You thought we'd be longer?" Druitt asked.

"Actually, yes, I did."

"How's the Source Blood shield coming?" Magnus asked.

"Well, it's more of a cloak now," Nikola said.

"Well done," Magnus said.

"Yeah, except it still doesn't work. Every time I try to reset the map to test it, I end up tripping off the alarm." He noticed the keystone in Magnus's hands and held out his own. "Wow. Where did you find it?" She gave it to him.

"British Museum," Druitt answered.

"Where does it go?" Nikola asked.

"Well, according to Worth, it goes over here," Magnus took it back and went over to an odd-looking building. "Hmm, this wasn't here before." She placed the keystone in the engraved slot. We all waited with baited breath. It retracted in and then glowed briefly. Then a red light in the middle blinked. All of a sudden, red lights came up over all the largest buildings.

"Now, what does that mean?" Druitt asked, looking up at them all.

"Well, whatever it is, it can't be good," Nikola said. There was a powering-down sound and the red blinking light shut off. The keystone slid out again.

"It rejected it. Why?" Magnus asked. She left the room angrily, probably going to chew out Adam. I could hear Will and Abby upstairs.

"Tayla!" Kate called.

"What?" I asked as Nikola and Druitt dispersed around the city.

"We're going to find Ziggy, want to come?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be right there."

"Yeah, sure, run off when there's real work to be done!" Nikola called after me. "I think I need another hunk of refined actinium!" I ignored him and joined Kate at the van. Henry and the Big Guy were already there. Kate and I rode in the back while the Big Guy drove. As we got out, Henry consulted his armband.

"Yeah, I'm getting a pretty strong signal here. Ziggy must be close," he said. We all looked around, trying to spot the black bird swooping in.

"Hank…" Kate said, pointing. I turned to see Ziggy land on the roof of a building.

"Atta boy," Henry said, smiling.

"Better find beetles in that building," the Big Guy grunted.

"Uh-huh," Henry said confidently.

"Let's go," Kate said, moving past with her stunner.

We opened the rusty door to the building, shining our flashlights everywhere as we stepped inside. Kate and the Big Guy went left and Henry and I went right. I shone my flashlight up along the crates on top of the shelves, but none were the kind we were missing. We moved forward more and saw the body. It was an older man lying on the floor of the warehouse.

"Hey, guys, over here. Oh, it's Angelo. He's dead. Guess we know why that crate didn't arrive," Henry said sadly.

"None of this makes any sense," Kate said, beginning to pace. "Why would someone kill to get their hands on a bunch of Cypher beetles? They're practically worthless on the abnormal black market."

"Why would Angelo have supplied them?" the Big Guy pointed out.

"Yeah," Kate agreed.

"You guys hear that?" Henry asked. I listened and a faint buzzing filled my ears.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"Sounds like one of them might have escaped," Henry said, shining his flashlight around. He sniffed and crossed over to a cart with a bunch of packing material. He poked around, but no beetle came flying out.

"Try underneath," the Big Guy suggested.

Henry got down on his knees to look under. Apparently seeing something, he fit his head under as well. "Uh-huh. Gotcha." There was a sharp chitter of indignation from under the cart. Henry popped back up holding a squirming green beetle about the size of a walnut. He carried it carefully.

"Ow!" Henry suddenly exclaimed, doubling over, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" He hurried to the box we'd brought and dropped it in, clenching one hand. "Son of a…It bit me!"

"What did you do to it? Cypher beetles aren't aggressive," the Big Guy said.

"I know they're not aggressive. Tell that to the Cypher beetle that bit me!" Henry fired back.

"All right," I said. I pulled Henry's hand toward me and forced him to unclench it. "It looks okay, it's not deep. Let's get the beetle back to the Sanctuary."

"Agreed," Kate said, shining her flashlight up toward the ceiling as if she expected another aggressive beetle to come flying at us. I closed the box lid and loaded it into the van. We drove back to the Sanctuary, Henry grabbing Ziggy on the way. We dropped the Cypher beetle in a spare aquarium in a lab. It flew around the cage, obviously far from dormant.

"What is up with this thing? I thought it's supposed to be dormant," Kate said, looking through the glass at the crazed beetle. I tapped the glass with the titanium bar I'd been idly holding. It was one of my pastimes, to fiddle with the bar in my spare time and try to grow immune to its numbing effects on my abilities. After three weeks of torturously fingering it, it was as potent as ever.

"I don't know, but if they're all awake, we gotta track down the others," Henry said, carrying a box over to the shelf.

"Send Ziggy up again," Kate suggested.

"Uh, yeah, I did. He, um, landed on a Tropicana truck," Henry answered apologetically. Kate and I both rolled our eyes.

"Okay, so, what about the dead guy?"

"Biggie's doing an autopsy."

"What are we gonna do?" Henry paused in his task of setting things on the shelf. He swayed slightly, grabbing at the wall.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kate asked.

"Henry?"

"I don't know, I just…" he collapsed on the floor. I tossed the bar to one side as we rushed over to him. Kate shook him but he didn't respond.

"Hank? Hank!" As I took his pulse, which was weak and fast, she picked up the intercom for a frantic call to Will.

"Hey, Will, come in!"

"Yeah?" Will's voice said after a pause.

"You've got to get down here right away. Something's wrong with Hank."

"Okay, I'm coming." I stood up from my kneeling position. His body convulsed a little as Kate once more shook him. He started to get up, and there was a low growling noise. He suddenly looked at us, his eyes the deep yellow of a HAP. He threw the titanium bar I'd carelessly tossed aside at me, hitting me in the chest with a dull _thunk_ and tossing me across the room into the wall. My vision blinked out.

When I opened my eyes, a blurry Will was standing over me. He removed the bar from my lap and was about to lift me up, but I pushed his arm away. "I'm okay," I said.

"Are you sure, Tayla, you took quite a blow…"

"I'm fine," I assured him, "What happened?"

"I stabilized Henry's seizures, but Magnus really is the one who should be doing this," he said. I stood up and brushed off my pants.

"Well, if you're sure you're feeling all right," Will said, "There's plenty of paperwork in my office."

**~~o0o~~**

I was in Will's office signing a sheet of paper stating that we acknowledged that we had a meeting with the UN tomorrow at two, and, since we couldn't do it then, were requesting a new meeting in about three weeks. Will, though claiming he was doing paperwork, was staring off into space. I knew he felt bad about shooting Henry. Nikola came in, sporting a couple glasses and a bottle of wine.

"Drink?" he asked.

"No, thanks."

"Oh, come on. Shoot Your Employee Day comes but once a year." I hid a smile. "Lighten up. You did what you had to. Magnus would have done the same thing."

"Really?" Will asked, "You really think so?"

"Oh, absolutely," Nikola assured him, "Magnus has shot me more times than I can count."

"Yeah, well, that's you."

Nikola stopped pouring the wine for a moment. "You're right, bad example." I couldn't help it this time. I smiled. "The point is, you acted decisively when necessary. And, you know, kiddo, keep that up, and someday, you're going to be worth something to this organization." He held a glass of wine out to Will who accepted it this time.

"L'chaim."

"Cheers," Nikola crossed over to the monitor, which was showing the security camera feed from Henry's bed. "How is our hairy wunderkind coming, anyway?"

"Well, I managed to stabilize his seizures, but he's not responding to treatment."

"I may have something on that. I was speaking to, um…Brawny and Marie, and they told me that he'd been bit by a giant beetle. Well, we don't need to see an episode of _House_ to determine our probable cause, do we? Look at this." Nikola stood up from his chair, holding his glass loftily, and adjusted the monitor. Three panels came up, one of which slightly different than the others. "Exhibit A, blood from an ordinary beetle." Nikola pointed to the first picture. "Exhibit B, blood from the beetle which bit employee." This panel was like the other, but clumps of something I couldn't identify were mixed in with the normal cells. "Exhibit c, blood from said employee." This looked very similar to the second panel. "Two of these things are not like the other…"

"What is that?" Will asked.

"Tichus Barbarellus, a microscopic abnormal, similar to the rabies virus. It makes ugly docile beetles into ugly aggressive beetles."

"Okay, so when it bit Henry—"

"These little guys were transferred via the beetle's mandibles."

"Mandibles?" I asked.

"Oh, go look it up," Nikola said. "Anyway, whoever designed this knew what they were doing."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, designed?" Will asked as Nikola crossed the room to retake his seat.

"Definitely. Cypher beetles have an extraordinary resistance to pathogens. They're one of only a few species that could be used as a transmitter."

"What about Henry?"

"Well, we caught it early. Now the best we can do is hope that young Henrich has the wherewithal to fight off the infection."

"Bad news," Kate came in, "Just found out that the delivery truck driver's family was being held hostage, and Biggie found micro-abnormals in Angelo's blood."

"Well, this is starting to sound a little bit too familiar," Will said. The Big Guy arrived a few seconds later, making it a staff meeting.

"I hate to be Captain obvious, but this has to be the work of the same guy.

"Then what's he targeting?" the Big Guy asked.

"That, I don't know."

"Well, we better figure it out, 'cause there could be hundreds more of these beetles out there. Okay, in Atlanta, he targeted a shop owner. In Chicago, he targeted a politician—"

"Richmond, an environmentalist," I added.

"And here, a priest," the Big Guy said angrily.

"Well, what's the connection?" Nikola prompted.

"Abnormals," Will said.

"Yeah, we know. He uses abnormals to cover his tracks—"

"No, no, hey, where are those supply requisitions I signed for this morning?"

"I FedEx-ed them. They got backed up," the Big Guy said, moving to a computer.

"What's the name of the shop in Atlanta?" Will asked Kate.

"Duke's Daisies?"

Will looked on over the Big Guy's shoulder. "See? Look at this. They're the biggest grower in the country. They supply thousands of rare plants to the New York Sanctuary."

"What about the politician in Chicago?"

"He was the swing vote on council. Without him, a proposed rail line that would have cut through several west side neighborhoods was approved."

"Displacing a community of abnormals," Kate said, catching on.

"And here. Father Jensen was the chief caretaker of the Fifth Ward," the Big Guy said.

"Okay, okay, so, he's targeting abnormals and their support systems."

"Well done. It still doesn't tell you what he's planning to do here," Nikola pointed out.

"Well, most mission-oriented serial killers escalate their behavior over time. He must be after something big."

"The vigil! Dozens of abnormals, all in one place," the Big Guy grunted in alarm.

"Oh, my God. They get infected, chaos spreads into the streets. People retaliate, and the community gets hit even harder," Kate realized. All but Nikola and I raced out of the room. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, now I will work with you on your stupid Source Blood shield!" I followed him to the library, Aeya appearing out of nowhere and trailing at my heels. She jumped on the table and settled down comfortably to watch us work.

"Okay," Nikola said, holding up a half bracelet to the light, "Hand me that." He gestured at the table. I looked at the multitude of parts lying on it.

"Hand you what?"

"The screwdriver," he said impatiently. I picked up the black-handled screwdriver and handed it to him. He made some tiny adjustment and tossed it back at me to set back on the table. "And one of those little screws." I picked one up and gave it to him. "Wrong one," he said, throwing it at my head. I ducked and it hit a city building instead, shattering one of its windows, which automatically repaired itself. "The other screw, Tayla!" He pointed to another screw, which looked exactly like the first one. I looked between it and him for a second. Aeya got up, stretched, and padded over to the screw. She picked it up in her mouth and went over to Nikola, who was still futzing with the silver half-bracelet. He took it from her. "See? Even the cat is smarter than you!" He picked up the other half of the bracelet and clicked them together. Magnus and Druitt walked in.

"Is that the cloak?" she asked.

"Actually, it's back to being more of a shield," Nikola said, examining it closely.

"Okay…" Magnus replied.

"Mmm-hmm. Yes, I finally got it to work. Unfortunately, though, there's only one of them, which means—"

"Only one of us can go," Druitt finished.

"Yes, well, first things first," Magnus said

"So is this it? The real one this time?" Nikola asked.

"Let's hope so," Druitt said. We followed her over to the building. She slipped the keystone into place, and the gears around it started spinning.

"Well, that didn't happen last time," I commented. The city disappeared and a globe, like last time, materialized in the middle. It rotated and then zoomed in, sending us flying across land.

"Where is that?" Magnus asked.

"Turkey? No, Iran," Nikola guessed.

"Nepal. It's Annapurna," Druitt said.

"He's right."

"Tibet. That's the gateway. We leave at first light," Magnus commanded.


	19. Hollow Men: Never Trust Jack the Ripper

**The Hollow Men - Never Trust Jack the Ripper**

**TV-14 L**

I followed the team, all suited up, to the conference room. As we moved down the hallway, Kate spoke: "I'm just saying, we're betting the bank on the word of a nut bar."

"None of you has to come. Gregory is my father," Magnus told her.

"You're sick. You're not going alone," Will replied flatly.

"Yeah, what he said," Henry told her.

"Absolutely," agreed Kate. Nikola came in after us.

"I've been testing this vampire shield all morning—" he began.

"You're really not very good at naming things, are you?" Will asked.

"Too bad our resident genius could only make one," Druitt, who followed him in, commented.

"Really, the paltry supplies of lanthanides you keep on hand?" Nikola told Magnus, holding the bracelet.

"I'll be careful with that, I promise," she reaching out for it.

"Oh, so you're going?" Nikola asked, still holding it tightly.

"As opposed to…?" Magnus asked.

"You?" Will suggested gesturing first to Nikola and then to Druitt, "Or him? Or Tayla?"

"I did aid in procuring the keystone," Druitt pointed out.

"Found the gateway!" Nikola said gesturing to himself.

"Hand it over," Magnus commanded.

"Very well, but, really, I have to say, when I imagine the splendor of the entry hall, an architectural site thousands of years old…A veritable marvel of art and design, and to think that the first witnesses to this spectacle will be Huey, Dewey, and Screwy? Really, Helen, my heart sinks you chose them over me," Nikola said passionately, still holding the device.

Magnus looked at him. "Don't be bitter," she said. She removed it from his hand and slipped it on.

"But I do it so well," Nikola pouted.

"Sooner the better," she nodded to Druitt. He came forward.

"Ready when you are," he replied.

"Oh, man, I hate this…" Will said as they disappeared in a flash of red light.

Henry turned to Kate. "I have to pee." Druitt appeared in front of us, causing Henry to jump.

"Best zip up," he told them. They reached for their hoods but before they could he grabbed us and we appeared on a frigid, snowy mountaintop. Flakes of snow swirled around us in a furrowing gale. A massive stone door was off to the right.

"Let me come with you!" Druitt said to Magnus, yelling over the storm.

"Without a Source Blood shield, you could be a liability. Before we go any further, you need to leave."

"Good luck," I told Magnus. She nodded.

"Remember, you're in charge now. Keep an eye on Nikola."

"Yeah," I said. I turned back to Druitt.

"Set up the repeater. Keep that tracking system broadcasting!" he was instructing Henry.

"Yeah! I'm on it, I just—" Henry's voice stopped suddenly as Druitt teleported us away, back to an impatient Nikola.

I brushed the snow off my clothes and Druitt hung his big coat on the hanger. One of the perks of being a vampire is a higher cold tolerance. Nikola sighed.

"Shall we go attend to Jekyll?" he asked, "Or will it be Hyde?"

"After getting left behind? Hyde," I said. We walked down the hallway and into the elevator. Once inside Adam's cell in the infirmary, Nikola got to work. He checked Adam's vital signs on the monitors.

"Hmm. Not dying as fast as we'd hoped," Nikola commented with a glance at the screen. He took a ready syringe and tapped the needle. He squirted a little into the air before injecting Adam with it.

"Ow, ow," Adam complained. "Will you tuck me in?"

"No. Although I could add some sulfuric acid to this cocktail, make your blood boil from the inside. Would you like that?" Nikola offered.

"You haven't lost your sense of humor. She's going to die down there, you know that. There will be events she's unprepared for," Adam said. Nikola glanced at Druitt and me.

"Finish up. I'm sick of the sound of his voice," Druitt ordered.

"The great Helen Magnus. Oh well, I tried to warn her," Adam taunted.

"Stop! Talking," Druitt said in a dangerously low, menacing voice.

"She never loved you, you know that," Adam told him, "Oh, come on, you've seen the way she looks at me, with pity in her eyes. Why should she feel any differently about you? The only reason she tolerates you is because she can use you, like a mad dog on a leash, and you just keep laving at her heels like the pathetic little pet that you are—" He stopped as Druitt grabbed him around the neck and started to strangle him, a murderous look on his face.

"John, really…He's not worth it, pardon the pun. If you kill him, he can't help her," Nikola said.

"Let him go," I commanded, but it was Nikola's comment that really made him release Adam.

Adam laughed. "Same old Johnny." Druitt left and Nikola put a finger to his lips.

"Shhh," he told Adam, not very disturbed by the turn of events. "Please." He followed Druitt out of the room with Adam looking after him, still laughing. Adam turned to me.

"So," he turned to me, "in charge of the Sanctuary! Your father would be so proud. Maybe you'd like a little advi—"

"Don't bait me," I told him. "Or," I held up a stinky old rag, "I will personally stuff this down your throat. And if, for some reason, that doesn't stop your chatter," I held up my knife, "I will cut your tongue so you will never speak again." I turned on my heel and exited the room, slamming the door behind me.

**~~o0o~~**

With Aeya tagging along at my heels, I met Nikola and Druitt at the lab.

"Their tracking signal?" I asked.

"Still going strong," confirmed Nikola.

"Good," I said. "Okay. I'm going to do some paperwork, ring me if you need me." Druitt wandered down the hallway.

"Yes, just leave me here to monitor their progress," Nikola said.

"Fine, I'll bring it in here," I told him.

"Bring me a bottle of Chablis!" he called after me.

"Can't, the wine cellar is depleted," I said as I walked out of the room.

"Well, you're in charge, can't you just go out and buy some?" I ignored him and continued to Will's office, where the stack lay waiting for me. Was it just me, or had it grown in the last few hours? I could swear we were almost finished. I hoisted it into the air and took it back to where Nikola was working. I sat down at the table. I sighed.

"Beijing needs _another_ boat load of assunupi fungus? Seriously? They just received two truckloads yesterday! Will just signed that paper!" Nikola typed furiously on the computer for a second. "Anything wrong?" I asked. At that moment, Druitt teleported in.

"Their tracking signal…" Druitt leaned over the computer as Nikola twirled his pencil.

"It died a few minutes ago," Nikola said.

"And you're just telling us this now?" I got up to look.

"Some sort of network error?" Druitt asked.

"I don't think so. I've rebooted the entire system," Nikola said.

"Then she needs help," Druitt said, standing up straight and preparing to teleport.

"Not so fast. There could be any number of reasons why the signal died," Nikola told him, grabbing his arm.

"Such as?"

"I don't know, a malfunction in the vampire shield? Just give me a few minutes. I'd like to check something." Druitt turned, obviously not liking waiting.

"Aha!" Nikola said after a moment.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Is that a defense satellite you've stolen?" Druitt asked.

"Weather. Better geothermal data."

"Look here. A seismic event of 3.4 was registered right at…"

"The same coordinates as the gateway."

At roughly the same time as their tracking signal died." Druitt disappeared in a flash of red light. Nikola and I waited a few seconds. He reappeared, snow on his clothes. "They made it inside, but the gateway is sealed again."

"Well," I said, "Time to talk to Adam." Nikola sighed and tossed the pencil down on the desk.

**~~o0o~~**

I swung open the door into the room and Adam cocked his head at me.

"Come to stick a rag in my mouth?" he asked.

"No, we need your help," Nikola said. He sat down next to the bed and Druitt stood by.

"We another way in besides the gateway. We think Magnus is in trouble. Their tracking beacon went dead about ten minutes ago, around the same time a size 3.4 earthquake registered at the entrance. It's sealed shut," I told him.

"Looks like you've got yourselves into quite a mess," Adam commented lazily.

"We need your help, Adam," Nikola said.

"Oh, so now you admit that you should have listened to me?" he asked.

"Okay, come on. You still haven't given us an answer," Nikola replied.

"Oh, well, then, let's review, shall we? Earthquake at the gateway, dead tracking beacon, and now you've come to ask me for my help."

"You know, there's only so much bile I can swallow in a single day. Hey, we're not making any deals with Hyde. We want Adam."

Adam's eyes flicked between all of us: Druitt, waiting impatiently, Nikola, whose hands were on his hips, and me, fingering the rag I said I'd stuff down his throat. "All right then, I'm in," he said in a much softer voice. "I know of a place you can teleport in. But, one condition. Let me out of here."

Nikola glanced at me. I nodded, "Remove the restraints."

**~~o0o~~**

We took him down to the lab. He picked up the device reverently and turned it over in his hands.

"Magnificent design," he said, examining it from all angles, "Not even a scratch!"

"Less talk, more doing," I requested.

"Okay, so…" he turned it over, twisting it in his hands, "I believe I can adjust the penetration depth…so the needles access my occipital lobe, specifically the visual cortex."

"Right, where all spatial relationships are processed," Nikola said, turning away thoughtfully.

"Which, I gather, is necessary for you to teleport," he said to Druitt, still preoccupied in the device.

"Yeah, if I don't know where I'm going, things can get rather messy," Druitt confirmed.

"Understood." Adam looked down at the device again.

"Now, a problem is that any data we retrieve from your brain will be in binary form, just a sequence of zeroes and ones," Druitt pointed out.

"True, but if we combine the coordinates from Adam's brain with the holographic map…" Nikola said.

"We just might make it through in one piece," Adam said, turning the device over once more in his hands. "Screwdriver please?" I handed it to him. He set it against the outer metal frame and there was an audible _click_ as he pushed against it. A hatch popped up from the device, revealing two blue crystals. He inspected them and then pushed that hatch back in before pulling open a second one. This one had circuitry. He used a set of tiny pliers to adjust one of the wires and snapped it back in. "Done."

"Well, that was easy," Nikola commented. "Sit down and let's get started." Adam took a seat and Druitt placed the device on the back of his head. It started to glow. Nikola hit a key on the laptop. "All right, system's up and ready to receive. All set?"

"Let's do it," Adam said. We all glanced at each other and I moved behind Nikola to watch the screen. _Receiving data_ appeared on the screen, along with a bunch of code behind the message bubble.

"There you are. The brain in binary," Nikola said with a satisfied smile at Adam.

"Oh, Nikola…always was a fan."

"Yeah, I know."

**~~o0o~~**

"This should translate the data from your visual cortex into a language this thing can understand," Nikola said, plugging cables into a converter of some kind. Series of wires were hooked up to the device that Nikola had built weeks ago, after the massive EM pulse in order to get the map working again. Druitt had controls of the computer.

"Allow me, huh?" Adam asked. Druitt obliged, stepping back from the computer to let him take the reins. I was on the opposite computer monitoring the progress and making sure everything was going as planned.

"Amazing," Nikola breathed as the holographic map appeared once more in the library, showing the tunnel systems.

"Well done, us. I always knew we'd work well together. You just never gave me the chance," Adam said.

"Yeah, well, better late than never, huh?" Adam adjusted the map and zoomed in.

"Now, the rock surrounding the city has a high percentage of lodestone," he said, gazing up at it.

"So it's highly magnetic."

"Which helps with their communication signals, but also acts as a natural electro-magnetic shield. I wouldn't suggest teleporting in there, by the way," Adam said.

"Your particles would ricochet like a bullet," Nikola said with a glance at Druitt.

"Yes. Why didn't you mention this before?" Druitt asked.

"Because of these. Supply tunnels a few miles above the city. Primarily granite in composition. That's our safe entry point. From there, we can make it to the city on foot."

"Well?" Nikola said.

"I'd prefer a larger space, just to allow for that margin of error," Druitt told Adam, peering at the map.

Adam thought a moment, and then said, "I know just the place." He shifted the map so it showed a large waterfall.

"That'll do just fine."

"Thought so." Nikola moved back over to the computer.

"You know, I know we all did some fancy footwork with the slide rule, but there's still no guarantee this will work," he said.

"True. Then, there rarely is," Druitt pointed out.

"Fair enough." Nikola walked up to the group.

"Now, if things go pear-shaped, make sure you get some help before coming after us," Druitt said.

"I'm coming with you," Nikola said.

"_We're _coming with you," I amended.

"Well, someone has to stay behind and man the fort," Druitt said, gripping Adam's shoulder.

"Yeah, well, since when did I become the responsible member of this group? The big hairy one can answer the phone! I'm not missing out on this."

"Exactly," I agreed, "We're going to Hollow Earth, whether you like it or not."

"You're absolutely determined to come with us?"

"Well, of course I am," Nikola answered.

"Hell yeah," I said.

"If you insist," Druitt sighed, holding out his hand. We reached out to take it and grabbed at nothing as Druitt and Adam teleported away.

"Son of a bitch!" Nikola swore. Accepting and not really surprised by the course of events, I turned to Nikola.

"By the way, the Big Guy's not here. I'm putting you on phone duty."

"Oh, thanks, Tayla," he said sarcastically.


	20. I'm Not Alone, Although I'd Rather Be

**Pax Romana - I'm Not Alone! ...Although I'd Rather Be**

**TV-PG**

Nikola, holding yet another glass filled with Chablis, answered the phone when it rang. I looked up from the paperwork. He narrowed his eyes at me and picked up the phone, still smarting from being put on phone duty in the Big Guy's absence. "It's from the Denver research station," he said after he had finished the call.

"What do they want now?" I asked.

"They were very cryptic," Nikola said, "Something about sighting abnormal 8-6-4."

"8-6-4?" I asked, "Are you sure it was 8-6-4?" He gave me a disparaging look.

"Former vampire," he reminded me.

"Right," I said. 8-6-4? _Now_?

"Why, what's abnormal 8-6-4?" he asked.

"Vampires," I breathed. His eyebrows shot up.

"Vampires? There are no more _Sanguine Vampiris_ in the world!"

"Yeah…we lied," I said.

"Helen wouldn't do that to me," he said with a disappointed look on his face.

"Yeah, well," I replied, "Never trust anyone over a hundred thirty."

"Oh, very funny."

"What?" I asked, "I'm just quoting you!"

"These vampires," he got back on topic, "How many of them are there?"

"Five, including me," I answered, counting on my fingers, "Alfred, Lía, Danaka, George, and Juliana—what the Cabal named me."

"Mmm, I'll have to call you Juliana from now on," he mused.

"If you do," I raised a claw, "I will tear your heart out and stuff it down your throat."

"Good point," he said, "All right, so should we go capture some vampires?"

"Yeah." He drained his glass of Chablis in one gulp and set the glass on the table. I threw down my pen and followed him. He strode to a Sanctuary van and got into the driver's seat.

"You're going to drive after downing all that wine?" I asked, one foot in the car.

"Vampires don't get drunk," he answered, "Come on, get in." I climbed in and fastened my seat belt.

"So how does that work exactly?" I asked.

"How does what work exactly?" he asked as he pulled out of the garage.

"The whole drinking thing. The alcohol has to go somewhere."

"Oh, it does," he answered as the gate closed behind us and we drove onto a public road, "It goes in our bloodstream, it just doesn't affect us."

"So, if we get pulled over…"

"Yeah, we're screwed," he said with a grin. I made the call to the private airport Magnus used and they replied that they would have a plane prepped and ready for the flight to Colorado in ten minutes. Nikola and I sat in silence for the next few minutes.

"Wait a minute," I said suddenly, "You were un-vampirified by the De-Vamper."

"Even as the inventor of the De-Vamper, I still don't know all the effects on a vampire made from the true, undiluted Source Blood. It was created for use on vampires from my DNA," he told me.

"So it didn't take away all your vampiric abilities?"

"No," he answered, "Which is probably the reason the holographic map still classified me as a vampire."

"Huh."

"We're here," he pulled the car into a space in the parking lot. We boarded the plane headed for Colorado about ten minutes later. Sadly for Nikola, there was no wine to be had on the plane. Three hours later, we landed at a private port in Colorado, near Pikes Peak.

"Up the mountain," Nikola said.

"How far?" I asked.

"According to the report, just at the base. But they're vampires; they could be all the way at the top by now."

"Let's hope not." We started up the road. Luckily, few cars were traveling up the road. Soon we left it and followed a small, almost unnoticeable trail through the underbrush. Unlike last time, there were no blood markings. But who would make a trail up Pike's Peak except vampires? People who were fixing the road or anything else would use the roads, not hike through the wilderness. We kept going pushing through the bushes, utterly failing at approaching them stealthily. We moved—or should I say crashed—through the forest at a rapid pace, moving at a steady clip.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, stopping suddenly.

"Hear what?" I asked.

"No, listen," he said. I cocked my head to the side, listening intently.

"Footsteps," he breathed. I could hear them, faintly now, softly stepping on the twigs. Female, probably, from the light tread. I pulled my gun out of my coat and handed it to Nikola, who looked down on it, annoyed. He swiped it from my hand and cocked it with a silent sigh. I needed no weapon except my teeth and claws, but he might need the protection. There was no George and no Aaron and his squad this time. Just us. The light footsteps started to recede away from the trail and we followed, startling a squirrel. The sky darkened overhead, making ready for a thunderstorm. I stopped at the touch of icy steel against my neck. Nikola turned. My attacker pressed the edge of the blade harder against my throat, creating a small line of blood.

"Take another step and she dies," the girl hissed. Nikola placed his hands together.

"I'm sensing some fear and anger here," he said, "But the problem for you is that I don't care what you do to her." The girl narrowed her eyes. "Lía," Nikola finished. She visibly stiffened. "Oh, so you are Lía," Nikola said, turning to me, "So we were on the right track after all."

"What do you want?" the young woman asked. She was pretty, with almond-shaped blue-green eyes, blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a nice face, which was now set in a fierce look. She was about twenty-four and had a slender body and thin, languid fingers, which gripped the knife she was holding to my throat tightly. Nikola spread his hands. "We just want to talk."

**~~o0o~~**

Lía led us to a camp, where a young man sat, tending the fire, feeding it small sticks.

"I got the fire going so you won't be so cold tonigh—" he looked up, muttered a curse, made a desperate snatch for his pocketknife, missed, and fell into the fire, putting it out with a wisp of smoke and burning a hole through his shirt.

"Alfred, be more careful!" Lía scolded harshly.

"Sorry," he said looking at her, "Who're they?"

"Some people I met in the woods. They knew my name, and they say they want to talk to us."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Didn't we say we're never having any contact with society again?"

She shrugged, "Oh well."

"Should I wake Danaka?" he asked. My eyebrows shot up.

"Danaka?" I asked, "Danaka Cabalus?"

Alfred jumped and looked at us suspiciously. Lía sat down. "Okay, well, what do you want to talk about?"

Nikola and I took seats by the fire. "We come from a place called the Sanctuary…" I began.

**~~o0o~~**

"May we have a moment to discuss this?" Alfred asked once I had finished.

"Of course," I dipped my head. The retreated into the gray canvas tent. Nikola looked at me.

"We didn't even have to shoot them," he said with a smile.

"Shut up, I'm trying to listen."

"We can't trust them, Lía," Alfred said.

"Why?" Lía asked imperiously.

"Because we don't know them. They sound too much like the Cabal."

Lía's voice softened. "Please, Alfred?" she asked softly.

"Of course," he answered, much to my surprise. He changed his mind that easily? They came back out, leading a little girl who was rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"We will come," she announced.

"Thank you," I said, smiling at Danaka. She stared at me with wide eyes. They were a bright, cheery blue. Her golden hair was mussed up and she ran over to me. She touched my hand with her little one and ran back to hug Lía's legs.

"You're pretty," she said in a muffled voice.

"Thank you," I said. She looked at Nikola.

"You're not." I laughed at Nikola's expression, and then gestured in the direction of the car.

"How much do you know about the Cabal?" I asked as we all loaded into the van.

"The question is, how much do you know?" Lía replied as Nikola started the car.

"…That's not an answer."

"I know, Juliana," Lía grinned at me from the back seat. I jumped at the name.

"How do you know that name?"

"Oh, come on. I've watched you at the Cabal for a very long time."

"What?"

"Let's start at the beginning. I was taken when I was seventeen, I don't know where from. I proceeded like you, except I was groomed for leadership. We were going to be the ultimate attack team, working together in sync with no ties to our past. We each would have separate powers and form a cohesive whole. Unfortunately, we never reached that point. My mind was wiped as soon as I gained complete control of my vampire self. They then brought me other people, the last of which was you, Juliana. I watched you, Alfred, and George train with your abilities. Danaka was specially trained, as the team's secret weapon. Young, innocent—and deadly. She was wiped as well, with me. George received his mind-wiping first, and then Alfred, but, you, _you_, never were wiped. I had chosen you as my second-in-command, so your training took the longest. You don't know how lucky you are. The day you were rescued? A week from then was your scheduled wiping date."

"Wow," was all I could say.

"Quite a story," commented Nikola, "Okay, we're here." We all climbed out of the van and onto the plane just as the thunderstorm began pouring in earnest. Lightening sparked high in the sky as we started to move down the runway. Fifteen seconds later, as thunder rumbled faintly in the distance, we lifted off into the air.

**~~o0o~~**

Returning to the Sanctuary had dramatic effects on the new guests, Lía most of all. We'd returned an hour ago and Lía had chosen a room next to Alfred's and Danaka's. After about thirty minutes, Nikola went and knocked on her door. He got no response. Nobody saw her leave the room. When we went to ask Alfred, he was gone as well. The only one who remained was Danaka, who was running around touching everything and getting tangled in everyone's feet. I snapped my fingers.

"The security cameras," I said.

"Excellent idea," someone else grunted. I turned to see the Big Guy, back from his mission.

"Well, I guess you're off phone duty," I told Nikola. He smiled. "Now, to that footage."

Just then, the doorbell rang. "Is that the…?" Nikola asked.

"Yeah," I said, frowning.

"I didn't even know there _was_ a doorbell," Nikola said.

"Installed in 1977," grunted the Big Guy, "Updated in 2001."

"Usually it just goes right through to a message bubble to Henry," I shrugged.

"So, are we going to open it?" Nikola asked.

"Yes," the Big Guy said. We all headed down to the foyer and the Big Guy opened the door. Lía and Alfred stood there, looking utterly different. Her hands were on his chest and his arms linked around her waist. Her hair was restored to its former glory, what I now imagined it to look like before the living-in-the-woods scenario took place. It fell in slightly curly waves down her shoulders, light brown highlights running through the glossy blonde color. Her eyes were covered in a smoky brown that somehow brought out the purple flecks in her blue-green eyes. Her lashes were long and dark and her clothes were the latest fashions. Alfred wore a simple shirt and shorts. His brown hair was styled and combed, swept across his forehead. She looked around at us all, hands still placed on his chest, posture stating her dominance clearly. As she surveyed me, she gave a slight sinister smile, daring me to try and interfere. Like I wanted to steal her boyfriend.

"Much better," she said. Nikola just stared at her, but the Big Guy grunted. Alfred, unlike Lía, had no dominance is his pose, but loving adoration as he held his girlfriend. He would do anything to keep her; that was clear. They stepped across the threshold and Lía took her hands off him to turn to me. "You're in charge here, right?"

"Uh, yeah, for right now…"

"Here." She held out a slip of paper. "That'll be three hundred twenty-four dollars and ninety cents." I took the slip of paper and stared at it. This was going to be a long weekend before Magnus got back. Assuming she was going to be back in that amount of time.

**~~o0o~~**

Magnus didn't come back that day. Or Saturday. Then on Sunday, the doorbell rang. I sprang to my feet in the conference room. Lía looked up from her magazine _Seventeen_ and blinked before burying her face in it again. Alfred looked up and asked, "Do you want me to answer it?"

"No, I got it," I said, practically giddy with excitement. Magnus was back. Lía would be taken off my hands and put in some other Sanctuary far away. I ran down the stairs and dashed to the door. I yanked it open, not caring about the reprimand I'd get from her later. "Hi Magn—" I stopped, my excitement dropping. Magnus wasn't at the door. It was a black man wearing a suit and tie, holding a small briefcase. He held out the case to me.

"The new items you ordered," he said. Lía came up behind me.

"Oh, that's mine," she said. She thanked the man and closed the door in his face.

"You're paying for that yourself," I told her flatly. She looked at me.

"Of course," she drawled.

"Good," I said.

"Mmm," Nikola said, coming in, "Not her, was it?"

"No," I said in a bad mood. I went back up to the conference room and plugged my iPod into the speakers to put on some Taylor Swift. That always helped raise my mood. Happy songs when I was sad, more of the angry songs when I was disappointed or angry.

"Taylor Swift?" Lía asked.

"_Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see, that I want, that I need, everything that we should be, he says he's so in love, he's finally got it right, I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night!"_

"Yes," I answered.

"She is _so_ last year," Lía told me, picking up her magazine again.

"She is not—wait a minute, how would you know? According to your story, you had your memory wiped!" She looked genuinely surprised.

"I…I don't know," she said. She shrugged and immersed herself in her magazine again.

"Well, you obviously still know how to walk and talk…" Lía didn't bother to look up and answer, but Alfred did.

"It's like our memories were wiped, but we still know facts. Just not any…about who we used to be," he said. I nodded and switched the song. Though "Teardrops on My Guitar" was one of my favorites, it wasn't powerful enough right now.

"_Now go stand in the corner and _think_ about what you did. The story starts when it was was hot and it was summer and I had it all, I had him right where I wanted him. She came and got him alone and let's hear the applause: she took him faster than you could say sabotage. I never saw it coming wouldn't have suspected it. I underestimated just who I was dealing with! She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum. She underestimated just who she was stealing from… She's not a Saint and she's not what you think; she's an actress…"_ Better. Much better. I immersed myself in my book again, _Delirium_. The doorbell rang again and I made no move to get it, not wanting to be disappointed again.

"Tayla!" came Nikola's call from downstairs. My eyes widened at the sound of voices in the foyer. They were back. Flinging the book back behind me, I jumped off the couch and ran down the stairs two at a time. I arrived at the foyer just as Kate was coming in the door. Henry was talking animatedly to Nikola and Magnus was looking around like she'd missed this place. She noticed me and asked, "Conference room in ten minutes?"

"Yeah," I agreed, "But I'll need to dig up some more chairs. We have some unexpected guests." She raised her eyebrows.

"Ten minutes," I said with a grin. She nodded and I headed back upstairs. While pulling more chairs out of the closet, I informed them, "Dr. Magnus, the woman who runs this place, is back." To my surprise, Lía immediately closed her magazine and sat at attention for her arrival. Alfred placed his hand on hers as we heard footsteps on the stairs. Nikola, the first one in, sat down in the comfiest empty seat. I scooted over on the couch to make room for Kate and Magnus sat at the desk. Will took one of the chairs I brought out and Henry half leaned-against half sat on the arm of the couch near Kate.

"So, what happened down there while you left us behind?" Nikola asked, eager to get to the point.

"We got through the—"

"A rock fell on my leg—"

"We were fed this disgusting fungus—"

"We died," Kate said from next to me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, one at a time!" I said. "Start from the beginning!"

"After John left," Magnus began, "the door to the tunnel was stuck with ice. We managed to open it and got inside. It closed abruptly after us, sealing us in."

"We know," Nikola said, "Druitt went back to look for you after the earthquake and your tracker signal went ka-put."

"We explored the cave a bit," Will said, "And then came upon the vampire detector."

"I'm assuming my shield worked, then?" Nikola asked Magnus.

"Wait, you're a vampire?" Lía asked.

"Well—" Magnus started to say.

"It's a long story," Will supplied.

"Not a full one," Henry said.

"She can't transform or anything," Nikola added.

"Anyway, yes, the shield worked," Magnus answered.

"Then somehow we activated a defense system," Will said, "Energy field, like a wall, coming toward us, corralling us down the tunnel."

"Henry and I found a cleft of rock to shelter in and let it go by us," Kate said.

"Then, of course, came the earthquake and boom, the rock underneath Kate and me fell through, separating us from Magnus and Will. The tracker broke and the radios were just as useful. That was when the signal went out," Henry told us.

"Henry got a rock on the leg and he wouldn't let me look at it for the longest time," Kate said, giving an accusing look at Henry.

"I was fine!" he protested.

"You almost nicked an artery," Kate said, "Anyway, I bandaged it up—"

"She did a good job," Magnus inserted.

"We wandered around the tunnels, going in circles, until we were captured," Kate said. "They took us to the city and dropped us into a cell."

"Meanwhile, we were being chased by the energy wall," Will said, "It was herding us down the tunnel. Eventually we reached this chasm."

"Long way down, one bridge across the middle," Magnus added.

"Thousand year-old steel," Will said.

"And a big gap in the middle, probably made by a rockslide."

"So we were going to jump it, but Magnus had a better idea," Will continued.

"We flipped down under the bridge and hung on to the bottom."

"The energy wall passed right above us," Will said, "After it had gone, we pulled ourselves back up and jumped across, following it."

"It came out at a wide open space, where a team loaded with weapons was waiting for us. When they saw the wall had brought nothing, they went off to search other places."

"We went out and almost got eaten by a basilisk," Will said.

"They were supposed to be extinct, but apparently not down there. We survived by looking at the reflection through a phone screen only."

"Facial recognition," Will said, nodding.

"We were truly saved when it was distracted by a mysterious family," Magnus said.

"It bit them, but it was only a holographic projection, created by a little boy we soon met. He and his father took us to their farm, and we were fed this mushroom-type-thing, which tasted disgusting, but…"

"It contained high levels of vitamin D," Magnus said, "Gave us strength."

"The mother went to get water," Will continued, "But she came back with those creatures Adam Worth used to try and suck my brain."

"She betrayed us; said something about the harvest failing and that she had to sacrifice us to them or they would take the one of their family."

"We beat them up and managed to continue on our way," Will told us.

"We reached some sort of mass transit vehicle," Magnus continued.

"Like a giant ping pong ball going around on some kind of track," Will added.

"We entered it and were caught when we stepped off," Magnus said.

"But we did reach the city," Will pointed out.

"And were thrown in the same cell as Kate and Henry."

"Then they killed us," Henry said.

"And revived Magnus, with their secret undead-ing machine," Will continued.

"I convinced Ranna, the leader of the city, Praxis, that she needed my help. There had been numerous small earthquakes, and so I figured that the geothermal power they used to power the city was betraying them."

"She also convinced Ranna to revive us as well," Kate said with a smile.

"We learned that Kanaan, another creature like Kali, dug tunnels in the earth to alleviate the pressure, but he wasn't well. Ranna regularly communicated with him, but he wasn't answering and didn't appear in the avatar chamber. All their dispatches of medical devices hadn't done a thing to help."

"We also met Fallon, who communicates with Kali," Will said, "She led me off to do some brain scans and talk about it."

"I identified Kanaan's illness, and Ranna, Kate, and I suited up to deliver the treatment to him," Magnus continued.

"Ranna cured her radiation poisoning before they left," Will cut in.

"We met Magnus's dad down there, and he told us that the treatment we were about to try he'd already tried. Eventually we realized that a parasite had infested itself in Kanaan's body, and that the renal failure we were trying to cure was merely a byproduct of that," Kate contributed.

"Ranna and I lowered ourselves down into the lava pit to cut it out of Kanaan and succeeded in doing so. When we were getting back to the transport, there was another earthquake and we ended up breaking through the rock roof to get out of there."

"We came up in the middle of the Praxian street," Kate added.

"Meanwhile, we'd been tracking down Adam Worth," Will said, "How he got underground, we still have no idea." I raised my hand.

"We…might…be…somewhat…responsible for that."

"He stole a kellorum device, an energy source comprised of antimatter and we discovered Fallon was working with him. After Ranna had executed him for his crimes against Praxis, Fallon had illegally brought him back to life."

"We tracked him down as he was trying to get away, and I shot him in the shoulder…too much like last time. He fell backwards into the transport module and it zoomed away. By the time Henry managed to get past Adam's hack and send the module back, it was empty," Magnus explained.

"The kellorum device was inside and a message was written on the floor," Will glanced at Magnus.

"All debts paid in full ~John," Magnus said, "We could only assume Adam was dead; John's not the kind to let this go. After that, my father decided to stay as ambassador in Praxis. Ranna told us to wait for her to contact us, not the other way around, but Henry, you can get started on a way to communicate anyway, just in case."

"On it," Henry said immediately.

"So now, can you please explain how in the world John and Adam got down there?" Magnus asked.

Nikola and I looked at each other. "We didn't think we had a choice…" I began.

**~~o0o~~**

After we were done explaining, Magnus was quiet for a minute. Then she turned to Lía and Alfred, who had been quietly listening with passive expressions. "I'm Lía, and this is Alfred," Lía said before Magnus could say anything.

"The last of the Cabal vampires," I said. Magnus smiled, and then frowned.

"What about Danaka?"

"She's in her room," Alfred said.

"Ah."

"Is there anything I can help with around here?" Lía asked, glancing shyly between Magnus and Will. I stared at her, dumbstruck. Lía _volunteering_ to do something? The world must be coming to an end.

"Actually," Will said, "If you could take care of Danaka, that would be great."

"Of course," Lía smiled at Will, making Alfred shift in his seat almost imperceptibly.

"Yes, thank you, Lía," Magnus said. I blinked. Lía was smiling without a bit of the superciliousness I'd seen the last few days. The rest of the team had arrived, so she was going to be nice? It made no sense whatsoever.

**~~o0o~~**

As soon as the conference had ended, most of the team that had been in Hollow Earth went off to take a shower. Lía followed Kate and I to our rooms. I turned at Kate's door.

"Did you want something?" I asked her. Kate watched us.

"I have to go out tonight," Lía told me, her lips curving into as thin smile. "Can you take care of Danaka then?"

"I thought you said you were," I said.

"I am, but I have to go out tonight. And then every Friday, actually." The blinked her beautiful lashes at me innocently. I stared at her, all my quenched feelings of dislike returning. Kate raised her eyebrows and then narrowed her eyes at the other woman.

"Yes," I said shortly, before Kate and I went into Kate's room and she slammed the door in her face. Kate and I exchanged a look.

"I hope she gets transferred to another facility," I said.

"Soon," Kate agreed.

"Or else…" I mimed shooting her with my hands, causing Kate to laugh. "And the best part is, I can do it as many times as I want out of the security cameras' view, and she can't prove a thing."


	21. Did They Kill the UN Security Chief?

**Hello everyone. _Inheritance _is out! Yay! Have you read it yet? I have, and I have a little part about it in this chapter. No big spoilers, I promise, for those of you who haven't read it. But enough of this. Read!**

**Hangover - Did We Kill the U.N. Security Chief?**

**TV-14 DLV (No more than actual episode, the D is only for the pinnepex antidote-thingy)**

By the next week, everyone had realized what Lía was really like. Everyone, that is, except those in charge. To Kate, Henry, and I, she was a supercilious woman with a lazy personality. To Magnus and Will, she was kind, helpful, sweet, and charming. And around them, she was. Eager to please, caring, great with Danaka—those are the words they would use. Arrogant, selfish, manipulative—those were Kate's.

Luckily, we were all getting a break when they were temporarily moved to the New York Sanctuary to be with George for a while. They'd just left about an hour ago. Magnus and I also were leaving for a conference soon. It was a beautiful day, with afternoon sunlight streaming in through the window. Magnus was in her office, just about finished with a long video call that she had to make before we left. Will was looking on over her shoulder and I was waiting by the desk, listening. It was with Lillian Lee, an Asian lady who was the United Nations security inspection team's chief.

"I'm just about to leave for a conference. I won't be back until the day after," Magnus was telling her as Henry walked in. I mouthed hi to him and he watched the woman on the monitor interestedly. I watched the clock turn to 3:31.

"Then I'll fly in Thursday, meet you in the afternoon," Dr. Lee said.

"Perfect. I'll have my car pick you up at the airport," Magnus agreed.

"I'm sure you understand this is just a pro forma inspection, but in light of several events this past year—" Dr. Lee began.

"Understood, and it's perfectly fine! I look forward to welcoming you to the Sanctuary," Magnus promised.

"Until Thursday afternoon, then. Goodbye."

"Bye."

"Bye," Will finished.

"Wow, who's the hottie?" Henry asked as Magnus rose from her seat in front of the computer.

"_She_ is the chief of the UN security team. She also speaks four languages, was the American envoy at the G-20 Summit, and has three PhDs in international law and finance," Will answered.

"Oh, my apologies. 'Dr. Hottie,' " Henry said. I grinned.

"Her name is Lillian Lee," Magnus clasped her hands together in a praying motion, "And I trust you'll be on your best behavior?" Henry nodded seriously and I burst out laughing again at his expression.

"You need to work on your jump," the Big Guy came in with Kate.

"Dude, you're seven feet tall! That's an unfair advantage!" Kate protested.

"Ahem," Magnus said. The Big Guy mimed dribbling and shooting a basketball.

"Sore loser."

"I've got a plane to catch," she said, and they stopped to listen to her, "But when I get back, I want this place in tiptop shape for Dr. Lee's inspection." She pointed at Will. "You have a sizable amount of paperwork on your desk."

"Yes, more filing. It's my _favorite_ thing in the world," Will said sarcastically.

"Could you please have it done by tomorrow? I want to be ready in case of an audit, and Henry, the new abnormal that arrived this morning?"

"One cuddly little mollox ready for intake. I am on it," Henry replied automatically.

"Check security protocols, and make sure that the armory is in proper order," Magnus instructed Kate.

"No stray grenades. Check," she nodded.

"And I think we should lock down some of the more aggressive residents. Especially the Kryton on Level Four. You know how nervous she gets with new faces," Magnus said.

"You think the U.N. Inspector would object to being pelted with acidic bile sacs?" Will asked slowly.

"Mmmm…I think it's best if we play it safe." She smiled and picked up her bag. "Right, then, I'm off. Cell phone reception can be a bit spotty in Gstaad," she told them as she joined me by the door.

"Oh, poor you," Henry said. She stopped next to me to face them.

"But I will be briefing the other heads on Hollow Earth, so you can reach me on a land line."

"Doc, don't worry about it. We've got everything under control," Kate said, glancing at the rest of her group.

"We're going to pass this inspection with flying colors," Will assured her.

"Absolutely," the Big Guy agreed.

"You won't recognize this place when you get back," promised Henry. They all nodded. I frowned slightly and Magnus's smile became a bit forced. Was that a good thing?

"Great. See you in a day and a half, then," Magnus said.

"Bye!" Kate called as they all waved. We left the room and headed for the car.

"Gstaad is in Switzerland, right?" I asked.

"Yes," she said as she pulled open the car door and slipped in the driver's seat.

"But the heads won't be speaking German or French or something, right?"

"No, but the local people will," she said. Magnus smiled as we turned onto the highway. "So, why are you taking me, anyway? I didn't even go to Hollow Earth," I asked her.

"Only you can explain what happened while we were gone," she reminded me.

"You want me to tell about the other Cabal vampires? I thought they were supposed to be a secret shared just between us and the New York Sanctuary."

"No, that should remain a secret. With John's disappearance and Nikola's departure, you're the only one who can sufficiently explain how Adam Worth got down into Praxis."

"Got it," I replied, "So is your summary to the heads going to be the same as the one Nikola and I got?"

"More in depth and less…scattered," she said with a smile, "More formal." I smiled and nodded, understanding.

"And what time is the meeting?"

"Nine thirty," Magnus replied, and to my confused look, "Local time."

"Ah."

"When it's the middle of the night, we're less likely to be interrupted," she explained.

**~~o0o~~**

There had been a two hour flight delay in getting to Switzerland, so by the time we arrived in Gstaad, it was dark and the meeting was about to begin. We joined Ravi at the door to the conference room. "Helen," he greeted her, "Namaste."

"Namaste," she replied, and he repeated the greeting to me. He seemed a little puzzled why I was here in the top-secret Sanctuary Network meeting, but was wise enough not to question it. We entered the room to see a large circular table with chairs all around. Most of them were occupied. Onryuji, head of the Tokyo Sanctuary, was sitting closest to us. I only knew him because I had seen the video calls Magnus made to the executive committee. Then on his right sat Pili, who I'd met on a trip to Cairo. It had been a short meeting, but then again we had had to get back to Mumbai and learn about Kali. Next to her was Declan, head of the London Sanctuary. We'd worked together on many occasions. Then there was an empty seat, where Ravi went to sit, next to Ark-Fong Li, head of the Sanctuary in Beijing. An unknown woman and man sat next to Ark-Fong Li.

"Dr. Magnus," Declan said, "Welcome. Welcome, Tayla." He returned his attention to Magnus. "Regrettably, the Moscow and New Delhi Sanctuaries had some problems with their residents and their heads could not attend the emergency meeting." Magnus nodded and we sat down at the two empty chairs. Everyone, including me, looked at Magnus, waiting for her to begin.

"I have asked you all here to discuss recent events," she began. "About three weeks ago, my Sanctuary received an anonymous call from an abnormal needing our help. We agreed on a meeting place, but when we arrived, there was no one there. As we were leaving, the door slammed shut, trapping me inside. Will, Kate, and Tayla couldn't seem to hear my shouts through the glass. I shot it, but the bullet stopped midway through the window. I soon realized I was not alone in the building. A masked figure who seemed to be able to appear in set places at will assaulted me. I eventually reached the roof, where I saw Will, Kate, and Tayla walking below, but they were frozen in place. It was as if time in the building had sped up. I eventually tore the mask off the man, who revealed himself to be an old enemy, who we had thought was dead. He traveled through rifts in space and time, and in order to stop him, I held on when he was rifting once. We made it out of the building and took him to the Sanctuary and stabilized him. Nikola Tesla, former vampire, discovered that Adam and I were both dying from radiation poisoning. By the Sanctuary charter, Dr. Will Zimmerman was put in charge, and he decided to show Adam Worth the map in the hopes he could get us to the city." To my surprise and second-later understanding, she said nothing about trying to ignore the charter in the first place. "We found the needed keystone and discovered the gateway was in Tibet. John Druitt took me and some of my staff: Will Zimmerman, Kate Freelander, and Henry Foss there and we managed to get inside the tunnel. The door closed behind us and we were trapped inside. Will and I were separated from Henry and Kate during an earthquake rockslide, in which our tracker device was broken. We continued searching for the city and encountered a basilisk. Basilisks disappeared from the surface eons ago, apparently into Hollow Earth. We were saved by the hologram of a family, which distracted the basilisk long enough for us to escape. A little boy with a glowing palm was creating the image, and he and his father led us to their current farm." She then went on to talk about the nomadic culture and the food that was served and described the woman's betrayal. She talked on through the night, mostly because it still felt like it was afternoon. Different time zones. "And so," she concluded, "Henry is working on a way to communicate with Praxis."

"Doctor Magnus," Pili said, "I don't understand. How could Mr. Worth get to Praxis?"

"That is better explained by Tayla," Magnus answered, turning in her seat to face me. She nodded reassuringly, gesturing for me to proceed.

"Okay, so, after Druitt teleported Dr. Magnus and the rest of her team to the gateway, we went to administer to Adam Worth, who was in the infirmary. He kept telling us that she was going to die down there. We finished with him in there and then Tesla went to monitor their tracking signal. I was doing paperwork when he noticed their signal had died. We assumed they needed help, and Druitt teleported to the gateway, but it was already sealed shut. Using a weather satellite's data, we discovered there had been a 3.4 earthquake originating close to the gateway. We went to Adam for a safe location for Druitt to teleport us into Hollow Earth. He modified a Praxian device he had previously used to try and access Will's suppressed memories of dying and contacting Kali. We used it on him and got the information from his brain into binary code. Nikola made some adjustments to a device he had used to reactivate the holographic map and had it translate the binary code into something the map would understand. Adam revealed that the tunnels surrounding the city were loadstone, which would destroy anyone who tried teleporting there. Adam eventually located a waterfall surrounded by granite cliffs, saying he could lead us from there to the city. Druitt tricked Nikola and I, however, and only teleported himself and Adam into Hollow Earth. There was nothing Nikola and I could do then but deal with the new abnormal intakes coming in until Dr. Magnus came back." Pili nodded her understanding and looked off into the distance, weighing all that was said.

Declan spoke up. "So what now?"

"Any assistance Henry's counterparts can give him would be welcome," Magnus replied.

"That is an incredible story, Dr. Magnus," Ravi said, "This could very well change the Sanctuary Network forever." Magnus dipped her head in agreement. I looked at my watch, which I had set to Switzerland's time on the flight. It was four o'clock in the morning, the equivalent to ten o'clock in Old City's time. Even worse for Pili and Ravi, who came from Egypt and India, but if they were tired they showed no signs of weariness.

"Dr. Magnus," Ark-Fong Li began, "There are other thing we need to discuss."

"Yes," Magnus looked up.

"First," Declan looked down at his folder, "The electrical bill in Asunción. Why couldn't it be paid?"

"Will received that paper during his time in command, I believe," Magnus said.

"Yes," I agreed, "Something about the depressed Guaraní?"

"Indeed," Ark-Fong Li said, "Now, what if we increase the…"

**~~o0o~~**

The conversation lapsed a minute while the heads thought over the plan. "Yes, I believe that is the best course of action," the woman who represented the Asunción Sanctuary said, "I will report it to the head as soon as I get back." She spoke with a heavy Spanish accent.

"Thank you, Eldoria," Magnus said. Declan glanced down at his folder again.

"And then the matter of the attack on the Grozny Sanctuary by rebels?" Declan asked, "I'm assuming that was during Will's period of command as well?"

"Yes," Magnus answered, "What do you think is the best thing to do?"

"Show them not to mess with us," Onryuji grunted in barely recognizable English.

"We don't want to provoke them," Magnus cautioned, "The Russians will see even more of a threat and the rebel's numbers will grow."

"What about sending them a warning?" Pili asked.

"Nah, it won't work," Declan answered. "The Russians would accept that, but not the rebels."

"We need a way to show them we are not a threat," Magnus mused.

"I would not normally suggest this," Pili said, "But the Grozny Sanctuary will lose many more abnormals if there is another attack. The best course of action might be to let a rebel leader inside the facility to see for himself."

"You may be right, Pili," Magnus said, "provided all dangerous and dangerous-looking abnormals are secure and out of sight. All the Sanctuaries should send over some harmless looking abnormals to put in the habitats. This will also help with our overcrowding problem in New Delhi and Moscow."

"Yes, good idea, Pili," Declan agreed, "Molloxes, some Lopski…"

"Nubbins," I added, causing Magnus to smile.

"Nubbins," Declan agreed.

"Well, that's that problem solved," Magnus said. "Now, the audit in Norway may prove a bit trickier…"

**~~o0o~~**

We all sat in silence, double and triple-checking the plans for what to do about the problems in the various Sanctuaries.

"Well, if that's all," Magnus said, "This meeting is adjourned. We will reconvene tomorrow at noon."

"Wait, Dr. Magnus," Ark-Fong Li said suddenly, "There is still the matter of the shipping of crates."

"Yes," Declan agreed, "Four shipments of crates being redirected with 'new orders' to a different Sanctuary than their original destination in the middle of their journey."

"The first one was New Delhi to Moscow, the crate ended up in Beijing," Ark-Fong Li said.

"Cairo received two crates meant for the Maputo Sanctuary," Pili added.

"A couple boxes arrived on our doorstep yesterday, but no Sanctuary ordered the plant species inside," Magnus said.

"What's the common link?" Declan asked.

"There's no way we can tell now," the man I didn't know said, "When we return home, we should meet via the video screens with more information."

"Agreed," Magnus answered. "Is that all for today?"

"Actually, Dr. Magnus, with all due respect, is there any need to continue this meeting tomorrow?" Pili asked, looking around the table. "Many of us need to get back to our Sanctuaries as soon as possible."

"She's right," Declan said, ruffling through his papers, "There's nothing else urgent on our agenda."

"Well, in that case," Magnus replied, "This emergency meeting is now over. Thank you all for coming." They all filed out of the room. I turned to her. "Well, that went better than I expected," she commented.

"Our flight tickets are for Wednesday night," I pointed out.

"We'll just see if we can get earlier ones," she told me.

**~~o0o~~**

To make a long story short, we couldn't. Anyway, we finally boarded the packed plane set for Old City around four in the morning, aiming to arrive at the Sanctuary around eight. Thankfully, the flight back was uneventful, as was our car ride home.

"So, how did you like Switzerland?" Magnus asked as she drove.

"It was pretty," I answered truthfully.

"Do you think they'll be ready for Dr. Lee's inspection?" she asked.

"Knowing Will, they'll have washed the floors, scrubbed the walls, and dusted the vases," I told her with a grin.

"Not a speck of dirt left anywhere in the Sanctuary," Magnus agreed, glancing up at the rear view mirror to smile at me. "Everything as scary looking as the nubbins locked up with triple security," she added.

"All the underwear drawers sorted by brand and color."

"Here we are," she said, parking the car and consulting her watch, "Three hours until Dr. Lee's inspection." We left the car and walked up to the front door. Magnus pushed it open and started in, nearly tripping over an overturned chair blocking the door. Her brown handbag swung crazily as she jerked to a stop. We looked around. Magnus closed the door softly behind us. Crates and boxes were stacked up almost to my height, creating some kind of blockade. Magnus set the bag on the ground and walked over to the picture that hung on the wall, behind which was a security panel. She removed the picture and opened the hatch. "Security system offline," I read quietly. Magnus pulled out her weapon.

"Have your gun ready," she instructed me quietly, "You may need it."

"Why would I bring my gun to a top-secret Sanctuary heads meeting?" I asked her. She sighed.

"Okay, we'll stop by the armory while we try to find everyone," she said. She cocked the gun. "Will?" she called, her voice echoing off the walls of the silent Sanctuary. We walked past the overturned armchair and hacked up crate and off down the hallway. In the middle of the hallway, we saw something ahead blocking our way and quickened our pace. A gurney complete with restraints stood empty in the center of the hallway. We walked past it and entered a separate corridor, which had a broken vase and flowers and a table with a missing leg. "Will! Kate!" Magnus called again. Another overturned chair and a couple of pillows were spread across the next hallway, along with a wooden rolling pin, metal bowl, and a few other various items. "Henry?" An entire couch lay on its front.

"Something small couldn't have done this," I gestured to it, "It must have been a large abnormal."

"Or Will, Henry, and Kate themselves," Magnus pointed out.

"But why?"

"That," she said as she stepped over a mound of pillows from the couch, "is a very good question." Her expression turned worried as we kept moving with no sign of them. We made it to the armory and I grabbed my gun from the shelf. Everything was neatly arranged.

"Kate must have had time to organize the armory," I said.

"That doesn't mean anything; it wouldn't have taken much time. It was in pretty good order to begin with," Magnus reminded me. We kept moving until her foot caught on something. A ruined painting, a huge tear through the middle. She lifted it to reveal a stunner. She picked it up and lifted a hatch on its top and examined it. She set it back on the ground with a look of alarm and lifted her gun again. The curtains surrounding the window were a mess, partially pulled down and filled with rips and tears, like someone—or something—had slashed them. As we turned down another hallway, a plant on the ground greeted us. The couch in this hallway was not overturned, but its cushions were in disarray. "Kate!" Magnus called again futilely. As we reached the end of the hallway, a bit of silver caught my eye. A carving fork was stuck deeply in the ornate wood, pinning a piece of cloth the the frame. Magnus felt the cloth and kept going. The path after that was even worse: a desk shoved out into the walking space, the lamp shade of a lamp about the fall off, papers strewn all over the floor, books lying open with pages crumpled and torn out. We turned away from the blockage and went left. Magnus peered in the door, which was ajar. Cautiously, she stepped back and kicked the door open, gun held ready for whatever lay within. A gargoyle came crashing down from on top of the door, the beam holding the sprung trap in place swinging wildly. Magnus pushed open the door and surveyed the gargoyle. "Bloody hell," she said. She walked past it and looked above the door frame. Whoever had set the trap wasn't very sophisticated or didn't have a lot of time, for only a piece of cardboard that looked like it had been torn straight off the bottom of the box of Honeycrisp apples that had arrived Monday had held the statue in place. We entered the room cautiously. The faint sounds of breathing filled my ears. I tapped Magnus' shoulder and motioned toward the spot. Faint rustling sounds could be heard coming from under the upside down chair. Magnus held her gun up and ready and moved toward it.

"Henry!" she said, lowering the gun and kneeling beside him. She moved the chair off him and I set it up right again. Henry started, making sounds of pain.

"Henry, are you alright?" Magnus asked, supporting his head. It had a nasty mark like he had been hit over the head with something.

"Uh, head…" Henry muttered, blinking. She turned it slightly to get another look.

"Oh, take it easy, you've taken a nasty blow. I think you have a concussion. Henry, what the hell happened? And where are the others?"

He frowned. "I don't remember." His eye rolled back into his head and he collapsed.

"Henry!" Magnus said as she tried to prevent his head from hitting the floor (unsuccessfully). She looked around at the ruins of the Sanctuary and then back at me. After another few seconds, I set the couch in this room upright so Magnus could lay Henry on it. She located a first aid kit, a glass, and some water for when he woke up. She sat on the other side with me perched on the arm of the couch. He eyes wandered uneasily beneath his eyelids for the first few minutes, then snapped open as he started. "Welcome back," Magnus told him.

"Mmm," he said, "Wow. At least I only see one of you now."

"Making progress then," she said. "How're you feeling, any nausea?"

"No," Henry replied, "but I do have the entire cast of _Stomp_ in my head and they're not happy." He pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Ah, gently, she told him. "Gently." She took the bottle of pills from the first aid kit and opened them. "Here, take these for the pain."

"Thanks, Doc," he said, picking up the glass of water. He took them and nearly spit out the water as his eyes took in the room in its shambled state. "Holy crap!" He looked around, trying to make sense of all of it.

"Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth," Magnus said.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, you tell me! The place is in shambles, the front door was unlocked, the alarms were off, there's no sign of Will or Kate or…"

"Let me think for a second," Henry said. He looked frustrated.

"What day is it?" Magnus asked him.

"It's Tuesday," he answered automatically. I flashed a look of alarm at Magnus. "No, wait, you're here…"

"I just got back from the conference," she prompted.

He looked at her in alarm. "It's Thursday? What the hell happened to Wednesday?"

"What's your name?"

"Henry Foss."

"And mine?"

"Helen Magnus."

"Hers?"

"Tayla Magnus."

"Alright, so not total amnesia, probably just short term memory loss resulting from the blow to your head." Henry looked down, obviously relieved, until he saw his torn shirt sleeve. "Ah!" he said. He looked down at himself, pointing to the blood on his arms. "Look at me! I'm bleeding!"

"All right, all right, all right," Magnus said quickly, "Take it easy. Think back. What's the last thing you can remember?" Henry started to pace the room.

"Uh, it's Tuesday afternoon, and you call me into your office. After you left, I went down to the new intake area. I filled out the data, you know, species, country of origin, name…"

"What'd you name it?" I asked.

"Skippy," he answered.

"Really? Skippy?" I asked incredulously.

"_Anyway_," Magnus cut in, "What happened after that?"

"It attacked me!" Henry exclaimed, "I radioed Will and Kate for help, but…they didn't come in time. It chased me down the corridor and I managed to shoot it with a stunner…" "Skippy my ass," he muttered.

"And after that?" Magnus asked.

"After that, bupkus."

"Odd," Magnus said from where she sat on the edge of the desk.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"The mollox isn't a violent creature; it's not even a carnivore."

"Then why did it try to take a bite outta me?"

"Good question. Perhaps it's a virus of some kind; it might have been infected during transport. Magnus sat down at the computer.

"Containment?"

"Perimeter sensors are intact. I noticed that on the way through the main gates," she answered.

"Okay, so nothing's escaped."

"I need to find that mollox, find the others, and find out what on earth happened around here while I was gone. Damn. Security cameras are down."

"What? That's impossible!" Henry said, coming over to look. "Oh, what the hell?"

"That video could've answered a lot of questions."

"It's probably just a glitch. Let me try a hot patch. Maybe that'll reconnect the server," he said, reaching for a wire.

"I'm going to check on the SHU, make sure all the habitats are secure," she said. I nodded and she left. Henry sat down at the computer.

"All right. Here we go." He typed in his password. A message bubble popped up: Access denied.

"Excuse me? Oh, come on, what do you mean 'access denied'? I'm the guy that wrote your code!" He picked up the keyboard and was about to slam the computer with it before he thought better of it. He typed in more codes, occasionally slamming the table in anger or frustration.

**~~o0o~~**

"I found our mollox," Magnus announced, coming back into the room.

"Yeah, deadly little bastard, isn't he?" Henry asked.

"Quite the contrary. He's his usual docile self, not showing any signs of viral infection," she told us.

"What? Why'd he go all Tasmanian Devil on me, then?"

"I'm running some tests, but it's too early to tell. I also called Declan. He's alerting the other Sanctuary heads that we have a breach, and back-up is standing by." Magnus turned to me. "I also informed the New York Sanctuary that Lía and Alfred couldn't return here until next week, because of the situation." I exchanged an elated look with Henry. Not noticing, she walked over to him and asked, "How are you coming?"

"Okay," he replied, "I had to do a little backdoor double-clutching to reset everything, but this should gain me access to the new passcode. Which is right…Right there."

"Geddy Lee?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, it's the lead singer of Rush," Henry informed us.

"Isn't that Will's favorite band?" Magnus asked, "You don't suppose it was Will who—"

"Locked me out? Hmm. Know what else he did? He tried to wipe the server hard drive. It's a good thing he didn't do a final delete pass."

"This doesn't make any sense. Why would Will compromise our own security system?"

"I don't know, but I'll tell you what, when I find him, I'm gonna rip him a new—Whoa, hang on. There we go." A video came up on the screen of one of the hallways.

"Can you clean up that image?" Magnus asked.

"No, not without doing a full recovery, which will take some time. Hey, there's Will." Will-on-screen was running like a maniac, crashing into the decorative vases and tables as he turned the corner.

"Clearly being pursued by someone."

"Or something," Henry pointed out. Another figure appeared onscreen after Will. Will threw something at his pursuer. Henry was chasing him down the hallway. "Or me!" Henry said alarmed. "Why am I chasing Will? Why am I pointing a gun at Will? I shot him? Oh, my God. I shot Will!" Will-on-screen didn't move from where he had landed. Henry-on-screen, stunner in hand, left him lying there.

"What's wrong with me, Doc? Am I going crazy?" Henry asked, getting up from his chair in utter and complete shock.

"Highly doubtful. I have a feeling there's a far more prosaic reason for what's going on here," she said.

"Yeah. Huh, okay," he said without conviction, "Why don't I remember shooting Will, then? Huh? I know I forget my cell phone number sometimes, or my Warcraft passcode, but shooting Will should _kinda_ stick out in my memory."

Magnus turned back to the computer. "That's the residential corridor. I passed by that broken vase earlier. Will wasn't there anymore. I don't think you killed Will, Henry. I think you just stunned him."

"You're right," I said, getting a closer look, "I remember that overturned table."

"How do we know? Maybe I just stunned him so I could go back for the kill and then hide the body. He's not answering his radio. If Will's alive, where is he?" Henry asked, bordering on panic.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions. I'm going to start a systematic search of this facility, top to bottom."

"All right. Let me see if I can recover some more video footage. Let's find out what else I've done that I don't remember." He sat down at the computer again. "Oh, come on! I have to go back to my lab and do a sector-by-sector recovery of these files."

"Before you do, just give me one second," Magnus said.

"Why? What are you doing?" Henry said in a panicky voice.

"I need to take a sample of your blood," she answered as she wiped the spot on his arm.

"Aw, yeah, see, there is something wrong with me!"

"The mollox isn't showing any signs of viral infection, but that doesn't mean we can't rule out any airborne contaminants that might have slipped past our quarantine protocols." She inserted the syringe and he looked away making a face. She drew blood and then took it out of him. "I'll go with you," I offered, "I want to look for Kate."

"All right," Magnus said. "We should head down to where Will was shot first." We walked quickly down the hallway, my ears alert for any sounds. We stopped at the place where Henry had shot Will. "No blood." Magnus said. I sniffed, trying to locate the scent of Kate's blood, but it was no use. There was too much of her everywhere; she left a trace everywhere she went: on the floor, in her room, and especially in the kitchen where she had accidentally cut herself last Monday. My ears detected something, however. Small whining, struggling sounds coming from the closet. Magnus drew her gun and we moved toward it at the same time. Magnus opened to the door to reveal Kate, bound, gagged, and struggling as if her life depended on it.

"Kate!" Magnus and I exclaimed at the same time. Magnus slipped the gag from her mouth and I started on the bonds tying her to the cleaning cart. I carefully let just my right hand's claws out to cut through the cloth. Have you ever tried cutting through cloth with vampire claws? No, I suppose you haven't. Well, let me tell you, it's really hard to do. The tips of the nails are what're sharp, so you can't cut small-medium pieces of cloth easily. After much hacking, I managed to get through it in the time it took Magnus to untie both her hands and feet.

"I'm going to kill them!" Kate gasped out vehemently.

"Who?"

"Whoever did this to me!"

"You don't know?" Magnus asked.

"No. I just woke up and…I found myself lying here. God, my head…"

"I'm beginning to detect a pattern. All right. Tell me what you do remember," Magnus said.

"Um…Uh…I don't know, I…I…I just finished organizing the armory and I passed by Will's office…I told him I was going to get a sandwich and asked if he wanted anything. He told me he'd like something sharp to slit his wrists." She almost smiled. "Somehow he interpreted my next offer as an offer to help him with his paperwork, and he was about to give me A-L when Henry called us through the radio. He sounded frantic, and we figured it was the new intake. When we arrived at the new intake area, however, his walkie was gone along with a stunner. I searched for him in the upper levels while Will took the lower. So I headed onto the residential corridors. I called him on his walkie but he didn't respond, so I met up with the Big Guy. Will stopped answering his radio too. We looked at the security cameras and found Henry, who was just walking through the corridor like nothing had happened. I went to his location but he told me to stay away from him. He shot at me, the first one missing, and the next…well, the next thing I know, I wake up in the closet, and you're…you're back early," Kate said as Magnus closed the closet door behind us.

Magnus shook her head. "It's Thursday."

"No, but that means…"

"You lost a day. You and Henry both," Magnus told her.

"Oh, my God…Hank tried to shoot me!"

"He—he probably doesn't remember it. He certainly doesn't remember shooting Will," Magnus told her.

"Will got shot too?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, and I've yet to find him."

"This is giving me an ice cream headache," Kate groaned. I tossed her the pills.

"Join the club. It seems like everything went pear-shaped shortly after Henry processed the new intake."

"You think an abnormal did this to us?"

"I've checked the mollox. There's no sign of any viral infection, and Henry's bloodwork came back clean. Slight spike in adrenaline, but that could be due to stress."

"So it's not contagious."

"And it's not an airborne pathogen."

"But something clearly altered our behavior and messed with our heads, right? What does Biggie have to say?" Kate asked.

"I haven't found him yet either," Magnus answered.

"Okay. What about the surveillance videos?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm expecting an update." She lifted the radio to her mouth, "Henry, how are you coming?" No response. She looked up at the ceiling. "Henry, come in." He didn't answer. "Dammit. I know, I shouldn't have left him alone," Magnus said, starting to run off down the corridor. We followed her as she rushed down the stairs, not waiting for the elevator, if it was even working. A furious din could be heard emanating from Henry's workplace: shouting, crashing, and screaming.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Will was shouting. A hammer came whizzing in front of us with enough force to kill. It stuck into the wall. We all stared at it, momentarily forgetting about the fight.

"Bloody hell," Magnus said.

"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" Will yelled from inside the room. He threw a rolling chair across the room at Henry, who barely stopped it in time. He threw a crowbar at him and Henry barely ducked in time. Will leapt straight over the table to attack Henry as Magnus shouted, "Stop it! Stop it, both of you! Get off him! Will, enough!"

"I have business with him!" Will yelled. Magnus and I held him back. His face was alit with anger and pure hatred.

"I said time out! Somebody start talking, and it better be good!" They both started shouting at her. Will's voice rose above Henry's.

"This son of a bitch tried to shoot me!"

"One at a time!" Magnus ordered, and then turned to Will. "_You first_."

"No, no, no, me? No, I'm not the one you should be concerned with. It's these two who need to be locked up!"

"Me? What'd I do?" Kate asked.

"Nobody is doing anything until I get some answers. Now, it is obvious that the three of you have fallen victim to some sort of hallucinogenic pathogen. I do not know the method of transmission, but I do know this: we will only solve this problem if we approach it scientifically, and _not emotionally_."

"All right. Fine," Will said, obviously still angry.

"Fine," Henry said.

"Fine," Kate agreed.

"Now…Henry and Kate lost a sizable chunk of time, and I suspect you did as well. They were able to tell me what happened up until the time they blacked out. Now to you."

"I was in my office…sitting at my desk, filing," Will said, "Big Guy came in to tell me that Level Four and the SHU were both secure. I asked him for help with the paperwork, but the big hairy liar told me his big hairy hands were the reason he gave up needlepoint and that they couldn't file. Kate came in—"

"I'm going to stop you there," Magnus cut in, "Kate, you said that Henry called for help, and the two of you came down here."

"Yeah," Kate confirmed.

"Yes! Yes, he was missing, and the two of us went looking for him because _we care_! I started on the lower levels, and then worked my way up to the residential area. I found Henry, but he shot me!"

"And after that?" Magnus asked.

"Well, I don't know, because after that, I woke up on the floor with a splitting headache!"

"How many times do I gotta say I'm sorry?" Henry asked.

"I radioed for Kate, no answer."

"Probably because _he_ had already taken me out!"

"Oh my—Guys, I'm sorry!" Henry said.

"I got in touch with the Big Guy, and the two of us went looking for him," Will said.

"Aw, dude…" Henry said.

"No, no, no, do not 'dude' me, okay? Do not use the word 'dude' in reference to me ever again!" Will shouted.

"Will! Come on. It's obvious Henry was not himself, and he has apologized…For shooting…you.

"The shooting? Oh, I'm all over that. No, the shooting was amateur hour compared to what happened next," Will said, "I went to check the lab levels, and in the main lab, the lasers came down from the ceiling and tried to cut me to ribbons! I managed to shoot them, but then the door on one of the cells opened up. You can guess which one. The sorkel would have had me for lunch if the Big Guy hadn't come right at that moment from where the garbage compacter tried to eat him! We tried calling Magnus, but the EM shield was at full strength and the signal was scrambled. I knew it could only be Henry doing this, so we headed down to the mainframe. He did his wolf thing, but the Big Guy tossed him against the wall. I shut down security and changed to passcode to save us from the death trap he probably put on autopilot. We got Henry onto a gurney and Kate shows up out of the blue. She tells me to stay away from her got clotheslined by the Big Guy. I knelt by her, and that's when it all goes blank. A few minutes ago, I woke up in the basement, I realized that Benedict Arnold here had hacked back into the security system, and since I didn't feel like being sliced apart by a laser—"

"Look, I said I was sorry, okay? I wasn't myself at the time, and I don't remember doing those things to you. Or you," Henry said.

"What's a little gunfire between friends?" Kate asked.

"Will, Henry is fine now, I assure you, as is Kate, and you seem to have stabilized as well," Magnus assured him.

"Pfft," Will scoffed. "So, what are we supposed to do? Just wait around until one of us snaps again?"

"We're obviously dealing with an abnormal attack, some creature, or energy, determined to pit us against each other. But to what end?" Magnus mused.

"Yeah, but what kind of abnormal gets its rocks off wanting to see us fight?" Kate asked reasonably.

"None, that I can think of, and that's the problem. There's obviously a deeper purpose to this whole scenario."

"Somebody who wants to eliminate us, or take over the Sanctuary, _again_," Will answered in a flat voice.

"Ethernet connection is up again," Henry said from by the computer.

"Are you okay?" I asked Will quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Will said, seeming slightly relieved that at least one person wasn't mad at him.

"Good, I want a video conference as soon as possible—" Magnus was saying to Henry.

"Uh oh," Henry said, "Emails are coming through, and there's one from Lillian Lee's office."

"My afternoon flight was canceled," Will read off. I smiled, relieved.

"Ah, thank God," Magnus said.

"I will be taking an earlier flight," Will said, causing me to snap back to attention.

"Will be arriving Thursday at 11:00 A.M.," Magnus said.

"That was like…" Kate consulted Henry's watch, "Three hours ago."

"You don't think she's…here?" Will asked Henry, momentarily forgetting his quarrel with him.

"Did any of you…" Magnus asked.

"No!" all three of them exclaimed at once.

"But we wouldn't remember anyway," Kate said helplessly.

"Ah, we are screwed," Henry groaned.

"All right, let's not panic," Magnus said.

"Really? Because we have trashed the place, we've attacked each other, there's a psychosis-inducing abnormal on the loose, we may have killed the U.N. Security Inspector—call me crazy, but this seems like a pretty excellent time to panic," Will said to Magnus.

"You guys hear that?" Henry interrupted.

"No, I don't hear anything," Kate replied.

"A ringing sound," I said, straining my ears, "But I can't tell where it's coming from…"

"What are you picking up?" Magnus asked Henry.

"Exactly. A bell. In the south corridor," he answered. Though my vampire hearing was good, it was far outstripped by that of a HAP. Henry's sense of smell on everything except blood was also superior. My sight was better, however, and our senses of touch and taste were pretty much the same.

"All right, we'll check it out. You stay here, get that video restored," Magnus ordered. The rest of us headed down to the South Corridor, leaving behind a disappointed Henry. Magnus located the noise to be coming from inside the elevator.

"Henry hasn't got the systems online yet," she told us.

"All right, let's do it manually," Will said. Magnus went to one side of the door and Will pulled on the opposite side. Kate and I stood with our weapons ready should the ringing be coming from anything nasty. The door opened to reveal the Big Guy hanging upside down, tangled up hopelessly in a net. He swung from side to side, each time pressing the button for the bell as he swung that way.

"Took you long enough," he said. Getting him down without kicking or otherwise hurting him was a hassle. Kate was the only one with a pocketknife, and I, of course, had left my titanium knife in my room before the trip to Switzerland. That was it. I was taking that thing everywhere now. Anyway, Kate cut with her pocketknife while Magnus and Will made ready to catch him and lower him softly to the ground. Remember how I said earlier that cloth was practically impossible to cut with vampire nails? Well, so, apparently, was string. I would have had better luck biting it with my teeth like a mouse. We finally cut the net loose and Magnus and Will carefully lowered him to the floor. We untangled him from the net as quickly as we could.

"Hang on," Will said as we'd almost got it off.

"Whoa, dizzy," the Big Guy grunted.

"Yeah, it's all the blood rushing from your head. How long were you hanging up there?" Magnus asked.

"I don't know," was his reply.

"Who did this to you?"

"It must have been something big," Kate said.

"Can't…remember," the Big Guy told us.

"Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot today," I said.

"I thought all the abnormals were secured," Will pointed out.

"You…" the Big Guy turned to Will and got to his feet. He picked him up by the collar and pushed him against the wall.

"Whoa-ho, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did I do?" Will protested.

"You turned on me, told me to stay away," the Big Guy said, "I went back to where we had restrained Henry, but he was gone too. I had no choice but to rig the ventilation system with knockout gas. I tied Kate up and put her in the closet, and then went on to Will. And then, nothing. Two minutes ago I woke up in the elevator."

"You locked me in the closet," Kate said, obviously miffed.

"Had to."

"And you drugged us," Will added.

"For your own safety."

"Can we just declare complete amnesty for all past transgressions?" Magnus asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Kate asked gesturing to the Big Guy. The rest of their words were lost in the swirling protests that erupted.

"Please. The last thing I need right now is a bunch of in-fighting," Magnus said.

"Fine," Kate said shortly.

"Yeah, yeah," the Big Guy muttered.

"Do you think we'll ever get back our memories?" Kate asked.

"With time, I hope so," Magnus answered.

"If we could fill in those lost hours, we could answer a lot of questions," Will commented.

"Exactly. For example, if everyone was knocked out by the sleeping gas, who strung you up in the elevator?" Magnus agreed.

"Hey, Doc, come in," Henry's voice crackled through the radio.

"Go ahead, Henry," she told him.

"Think I've finally got something. It ain't perfect, but—"

"I'll take it. We're on our way," she said. Upon returning to Henry, I wasn't surprised to find the lab even messier than when we left, if that was even possible. "Watch," Henry said.

The first video was of Will. He approached a car in the garage and opened the door, only to find it already occupied by Kate, who punched him. The second featured Henry chasing Will, which was clearer than the one we had first seen. The third featured Will succumbing to the sleeping gas in the hallway and collapsing. The fourth had Henry and Will wrestling on the floor. The fifth had Kate leaping over the couch in order to attack Will and Henry, who were fighting on the other side. Will was building the blockade of crates and boxes in the sixth. The seventh had Kate running through the corridor; the eighth of the Big Guy beginning to drag Will away and then dropping him where he was. The ninth was of Will knocking Kate into a backwards somersault over the chair, after which she slid the full five feet under the coffee table. The tenth came along with all of us watching eagerly: a figure chasing the Big Guy holding a stunner.

"Stop right there," Magnus ordered as the figure stepped out from behind the wall.

"Isn't that—" Will asked.

"Dr. Hottie," Henry said.

"The U.N. Security Chief?" Kate asked.

"Yep," I confirmed.

"Carrying a stunner," Will added, as if proving that things could always be worse.

"Oh, this is not good," Magnus said.

"How did she get in?" Kate asked.

"Will shut down all the security protocols," Henry said accusingly.

"_Because they were trying to kill me_," Will pointed out.

"Which was kind of ingenious," I told Henry.

"Where is she? I haven't seen her," the Big Guy brought us back on topic.

"None of us have," Kate replied.

"You think she's infected?" Will asked.

"Well, why else would she shoot Biggie?" Henry asked.

"Self defense?" Kate offered.

"I didn't touch her," the Big Guy growled, "I don't think."

"Henry, can you rewind the video back to the part where Will was lying on the floor?" Magnus requested.

"You spotted Dr. Lee?" Will asked.

"No, but something, perhaps," she said. The video replayed, showing the Big Guy start to drag Will off down the hallway and then stop. He dropped him on the floor and went on his way.

"Nice," Will said sarcastically.

"Don't mention it," the Big Guy replied.

"Henry, go back again. And slow it down this time, frame by frame. There! Magnify."

"Ugh! What was that?" Henry asked.

"Aw, gross," Kate commented.

"Doesn't even begin to cover it," Will agreed.

"What _is_ that?" I leaned closer to the screen. A small bug-like creature onscreen was transferring from Will to the Big Guy.

"Don't worry. Don't worry, it's not on you anymore," Magnus assured a nervous Big Guy.

"How do you know?" the Big Guy asked.

"Because you're not trying to kill us."

"Do you know what this is?" Will asked.

"It's called a pinnepex, a creature so incredibly ugly that it's developed a unique defense mechanism," Magnus answered.

"It makes you crazy?" Kate asked.

"It releases a powerful pheromone into the bloodstream that compels stronger creatures to protect it," Magnus answered.

"It must have come in hitching a ride on the mollox," Will concluded.

"Oh, that's why Skippy attacked me," Henry said.

"Skippy?" Will and Kate asked at the same time.

"Yeah, he named the mollox _Skippy_," I said.

"On Tuesday, when Henry uncrated the mollox, the pinnepex must have jumped over to him," Magnus interrupted.

"So, then what, I'm just under its spell after that?" Henry asked.

"One of the side effects of the pheromones is rapid adrenaline production, which would account for your increased strength and aggression," Magnus added.

"Okay, so any time any one of us was shot or taken out—" Will began.

"It jumped over to the next protector."

"Exactly," Magnus confirmed.

"So you knew about the rufie monster?" Kate asked.

"Well, this creature was supposed to have been extinct for the last 50 years. I'm guessing that's why its biological signature never registered. It was never in our database," Magnus answered.

"Oh, guys, I think I've found our pinnepex," Henry interrupted.

"She's headed for the catacombs," Will said.

"We can't go in there unprotected. If that creature were to jump onto one of us…" Magnus began.

"Yeah, we could turn on each other," Will agreed.

"Again."

"I think I may have a solution," Magnus said.

**~~o0o~~**

"The sex inhibitor pheromone of the red bollworm," Magnus explained as she injected Will with it.

"Pfft. Why didn't I think of that? Ow," Will said.

"Obviously this is a hastily engineered synthetic, but it should do the trick. It should provide us with temporary immunity to the pinnepex."

"Do I have to?" I asked as she neared me.

"I'm not sure what effect the pinnepex might have on vampire physiology," she said, motioning for me to give her my arm. "It's better safe than sorry."

"Besides, none of us want to fight a crazy vampire," Kate said with a glance at her comrades.

"Three of us will enter via the basement tunnels. Henry, Kate, go in through the vaults under the courtyard," Magnus said as we moved briskly through the halls, stunners in hand, "Tayla, you're to guard the door. No matter what happens, that pinnepex must not leave the catacombs unchecked."

"Check," Henry agreed.

"Got it," I replied.

"And let's try it the easy way first.

"Failing that, standard 3-2 formation with defensive extraction," Will ordered.

"And stun only, please. I want to capture both the pinnepex and the U.N. Security Chief alive."

"Tranqs it is," Kate said.

As soon as we reached the catacombs, we split off. Loud sounds of stunner fire came from within, along with a couple of random shouts. "Dr. Lee! Lillian! We're not here to hurt you!" Magnus had shouted.

Dr. Lee's reply was just as easy to hear. "Back off! Don't come any closer!"

"So much for the easy way," came Will's remark. Finally Magnus signaled it was safe with her usual, "Well done, everyone."

"It's ugly," Kate said, looking at the pinnepex.

"Well, I'd rather be ugly than extinct," Henry pointed out.

"You—nah, too easy," Kate told him.

"Don't you listen to them," the Big Guy said as he lifted the pinnepex to eye level, "I think you're beautiful." He left with it.

"Okay, well, that's half our problem solved. What about Miss United Nations over here?" Will asked.

"Well, luckily, like the rest of you, she won't remember a thing. That's the final stage of the creature's defense system. Once the pheromone wears off, the predator doesn't remember that the pinnepex ever existed, so it doesn't go looking for it. It's rather ingenious, really. Right. While she's sleeping this off, we've got some cleaning up to do." We all glanced down at the unconscious Dr. Lee and then looked back at Magnus.

"What are we going to do with her in the mean time?" Will asked, "She'll only be in the way up there."

"And leaving her lying down here seems like a bad omen," Kate agreed.

"Why don't we clean Magnus's office first?" I suggested, "Then we can put her on the couch while we clean the rest of the facility."

"Alright," Magnus agreed. Will hoisted her up by the shoulders and I took the feet. We carried her up to Magnus's office and set her down on the couch, just about the only thing still upright in the room. I started with her desk while Kate replaced the pictures on the wall and Will set the other chairs back in their original positions. Magnus briefed us all on the cover story while we worked. "When Dr. Lee wakes up," she began as I scooped up the papers that had fallen off her desk when it was overturned, "I will be with her on the couch, speaking about the quarantine protocols. I will seem to notice her confused expression and tell her that she has been having these blackout episodes since she hit her head getting out of the cab. Then, you, Will, will bring her some tea—milk, no lemon—and Kate will act like she asked for our last six months of security logs. Kate, bring the entire year's worth, making us look organized and like we have nothing to hide. Tayla, you can get her the newest intake logs."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

"Okay," Will said.

"Henry," Magnus interrupted him from where he was scooping up the fragments of a broken vase, "You need to go down and get the elevator and everything else working again."

"Right, Doc, I'm on it," he left the room. I organized the papers back into their folder and up righted the desk. I set the flowers back on it along with the pen and papers. The room was looking mostly normal now. The pictures were back on the walls and the tables and chairs were where they should be. We then split up to clean the other hallways. I headed down to the new intake area and set everything back in its rightful place and disposed of the broken crate the mollox had come in. While I was down there I pulled the last twenty intake files—including Skippy's—and my eyes alighted upon a towel hung up over the ventilation grate. The towel might still have sleeping gas from when the Big Guy knocked everyone out. I pulled it off the line and took it upstairs to Magnus's office. No one was there, and the outside hallways were clean. We were working quickly, but the stunner would only last about an hour. I crept up to Dr. Lee and placed the towel over her mouth for a second. Noises in the hallway; someone was coming. I took the towel and headed off down the corridor. Behind me, Will followed. Before he fully caught up, I disposed of the towel. When he reached me in the residential corridor, we joined Kate in cleaning up a particularly messy hallway. Ever so dignified, Aeya padded in.

"Where have you been?" I asked the cat, pausing in my cleaning to ruffle her fur. She only mewed, disgruntled. I turned back to Will.

"You know," I said as I picked up a vase, "When you told us we wouldn't recognize this place when we got back, you spoke true."

"Not exactly the way we imagined it," Henry said, coming up behind us. An empty syringe was in his hand. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Magnus!" he defended himself, glancing down at it. I nodded and returned to my work, slightly bemused. Dr. Lee wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, that was for sure.

**~~o0o~~**

"Okay," Kate said as she entered the room with the year's records, "I know you only asked for the last six months of security logs, but it was just as easy to pull the entire year, and besides, we've got nothing to hide." I followed in after her.

"And here," I plopped them down on the table, "are the recent intake logs."

"You're telling me we've met?" Dr. Lee said, looking at Kate and me, "And I asked for those?" She gestured toward Will's tea and cookies.

"Dr. Lee, this is Dr. Will Zimmerman. This is Kate Freelander, you may have read her file. And this is Tayla Magnus, my daughter," Magnus introduced us.

"Oh, another blackout," Kate said, looking worried.

"Minor one. I'm hoping it's the last. In fact, I anticipate a full recovery—" Magnus said.

"—Just hang—hang on. Something's not right here," Dr. Lee said, getting up and looking around.

"How about a sip of tea?" Magnus offered.

"What about a cookie?" Will suggested.

"You may have low blood sugar," Kate told her.

"It's starting to come back to me now," Dr. Lee said, ignoring them.

"It is?" Will asked.

"Yes. Yes, the front door was unlocked," Dr. Lee said. I frowned.

"The front door is never unlocked," Kate said.

"I walked inside," Dr. Lee said.

"On your own, without entering the security code?" Magnus asked.

"There was a chair overturned on the floor, and some crates stacked up high, and then a big, furry Sasquatch came straight at me, and—and…that's it."

"Well, sometimes the mind can play tricks—"

"Don't patronize me, any of you. Do you think I got to where I am by being an idiot?"

"No, we don't, I assure you," Magnus said.

"Then please have the decency to be honest with me."

"You're right. The truth is, there was a situation with our most recent intake," Magnus began.

"Which inadvertently admitted a psychosis-inducing abnormal into the Sanctuary," Will continued.

"Basically, we all went postal and trashed the place," Kate agreed.

"You came in at the tail end of the event, and were temporarily infected yourself," Magnus told her.

"But you're fine now," Will assured her.

"We all are," Kate said.

"You realize, Dr. Magnus, that this is a very serious event," Dr. Lee said.

"I do, but there's something you must understand. Our perimeter security was never compromised—"

"This time."

"Dr. Lee, this is a Sanctuary. It's not a zoo. We deal with abnormal creatures, and, yes, sometimes they're dangerous. That's why we're here. It's what we do, it's our job, and quite frankly, we're good at it. We've been good at it for 149 years," Magnus told her.

"I see. So tell me…What exactly did happen to me?" she asked.

"Come take a look," Magnus offered, gesturing toward the computer. She pulled up the footage.

"This is Henry shooting me," Will told her.

"There's Will going after me," Kate added.

"Will crashing through a table," Magnus narrated.

"What the hell am I doing?" Dr. Lee asked, staring at the screen.

"Well…I believe you're trying to kill my colleagues, but I'm willing to overlook it. Dr. Lee, in my work, the United Nations has always been a very powerful ally. I hope you'll think of me in the same way."

"Please, call me Lillian," she said.

"Thank you," Magnus said, "Now, if you're still interested, we'd be delighted to give you a proper tour of the Sanctuary."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"This way," Kate said, gesturing out the door. I paused before following her.

"You've done this before," Will accused Magnus.

"Once or twice," Magnus said with a smile. I laughed and followed Kate out of the room.

**~~o0o~~**

I grinned as the progress bar completed. The video was done downloading from the network. Now that it was all over and half a week had passed, Henry shooting Will seemed funny—especially since I hadn't been there being "betrayed" at the time. All the security camera footage was on my tablet. It was midnight, and for the first time I had some free time. All day today we'd been on a mission, ridding the sewer of an escaped salamander-type thing. It was the size of a large dog, and it had taken us all day to pursue and capture it. But now it was secure in Level Four and it was finally time. It was Tuesday, November 8, 2011, and _Inheritance_, Christopher Paolini's final masterpiece of the series, had arrived on our doorstep this morning. I hopped up on my bed with barely contained excitement. I carefully lifted _Inheritance_ out of the Amazon shipping box and stroked the cover. I stretched out on my bed and opened it to the first page. I skipped the synopsis of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr having read them so many times—the history of the Riders, how Galbatorix and the Forsworn slew every other dragon and Rider but their own, how Saphira had come into Eragon's possession, Orik being crowned king of the dwarves after the battle at the Burning Plains, the revelation of the Eldunarí, and Oromis and Glaedr's death. Aeya settled down beside me.

"Are you going to…read?" I asked her.

She licked a paw. _You could call it that._

_You don't know the alphabet._

_But you do._ The cat finished her grooming. _Isn't it obvious? The words will be present in your mind. I do love a good story._

_Okay…_ I turned to the first chapter, "Into the Breach."

_The dragon Saphira roared, and the soldiers before her quailed. "With me!" shouted Eragon. He lifted Brisingr over his head, holding it aloft for all to see. The blue sword flashed bright and iridescent, stark against the wall of black clouds building in the west. "For the Varden!"_

_An arrow whizzed past him; he paid it no mind. _

_The warriors gathered at the base of the slope of rubble Eragon and Saphira were standing upon answered him with a single, full-throated bellow: "The Varden!" They brandished their own weapons and charged forward, scrambling up the tumbled blocks of stone. Somewhere within the keep, Eragon knew, was Lord Bradburn, governor of Belatona—the city the Varden had been trying to capture for several long hours. _

_With a cry, Eragon leapt off the rubble toward the soldiers. The men shuffled backward, though they kept their spears and pikes trained on the ragged hole Saphira had torn in the castle's outer wall. _

_Eragon's right ankle twisted as he landed. He fell to his knee and caught himself on the ground with his sword hand. _

_One of the soldiers seized the opportunity to dart out of formation and stab his spear at Eragon's exposed throat._

_Eragon parried the thrust with a flick of his wrist, swinging Brisingr faster than either a human or an elf could follow. The soldier's face grew slack with fear as he realized his mistake. He tried to flee, but before he could move more than a few inches, Eragon lunged forward and took him in the gut. _

_With a pennant of blue and yellow flame streaming from her maw, Saphira jumped into the courtyard after Eragon. He crouched and tensed his legs as she struck the paved ground. The impact shook the entire courtyard. Many of the chips of glass that formed a large, colorful mosaic in front of the keep popped loose and flew spinning upward like coins bounced off a drum. Above, a pair of shutters banged open and closed in a window of the building._

_The elf Arya accompanied Saphira. Her long black hair billowed wildly around her angular face as she sprang off the pile of rubble. Lines of splattered blood striped her arms and neck; gore smeared the blade of her sword. She alit with the soft scuff of leather against stone. _

_Her presence heartened Eragon. There was no one else whom he would rather have fighting alongside him and Saphira. She was, he thought, the perfect shield mate._

_He loosed a quick smile at her, and Arya responded in kind, her expression fierce and joyous. In battle, her reserved demeanor—_

_I always liked Saphira, _Aeya interrupted.

_Okay, if you're going to listen in my mind you have to be quiet,_ I told her. I immersed myself back into the book. As I reached the second page of the fourth chapter, Aeya's purring increased and I grinned. I continued reading on through the night. The clock turned to six in the morning as I read the last sentence: _And the ship sailed onward, gliding serenely down the moonlit river toward the dark lands beyond._ After perusing the book's stock of the Ancient Language, I smiled and closed it. I looked down at Aeya.

"So, did you like it?" I asked.

_Mmm, much better than the first three,_ she said, _Solembum and Maud were the only werecats in those._ I rolled my eyes and stood up and stretched. Morning sunlight was starting to peak through the window's curtains. I met Kate in the conference room after getting a bite to eat. We ignored Lía, who was reading a new _Seventeen_ in an armchair.

"I finished _Inheritance_," I said to Kate.

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" she asked incredulously.

"Nope," I said, "but I'm fine." I stifled a yawn with my hand.

"Mmm-hmm," she said, giving me a look.

"All right, you three," Magnus said, coming in with Henry. "Henry, I got those crystals you needed for the new weapon. But listen to me very carefully. These are very poisonous, so whatever you do do not let them touch your skin. Latex gloves should suffice. If you should happen to break them, do not try and pick up the pieces. Once broken, the crystal structure becomes very weak. Dispose of whatever they broke on properly."

"Yeah, Doc, we got it," Henry said. She handed him the bag and we sped off to his lab.

**~~o0o~~**

"Tayla, can you pass me those…yeah thanks," he said as Kate, who was closer, handed them to him. "All right, I'm just about ready to put the crystals in. Is everybody gloved up?" We all held up our hands. The gloves had an itchy, hot feeling, but it was better than being dead from the toxic crystals. Henry carefully opened the bag and removed one of them. It was a dusky yellow. We shifted in to get a closer look before he set it in place, and Kate accidentally jostled his arm. He dropped it and it fragmented on the table into two pieces. We all looked at each other. I gently moved to pick up one of the shards, but it crumbled to dust in my fingers, getting all over the desk.

"What are we going to do?" Henry fretted, "If we tell her, Magnus will never let us have anything this cool again!"

"How do we clean up the dust?" Kate asked. I looked around. The door burst open with a bang and Lía came in. She spied the dust on the table and guessed what we'd done. We all looked at her, and she looked back at us.

"You guys are in so much trouble," she said. She left the room, closing the door with a bang.

Kate snapped her fingers. "The vacuum cleaner."

"That's it!" I exclaimed. Henry pulled it out of the closet while I crushed the second half of the crystal to dust with a light tap. He turned it on and we all watched as the dust was sucked up by the tube. Henry shut it off and we all looked at each other. "Good thinking," I said to Kate.

"Phew," Henry agreed.

**Thanks for reading; please review!**


	22. One Night: Blackmail

**Hello everyone! A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all! So, umm…this chapter. New stuff about Tayla. Fugue! I have to buy that episode before the DVDs come out it's so good. Okay, so enough with my rambling. Oh yeah, wish Ryan Robbins (Henry Foss) a happy birthday today! Okay, so, really, read!**

**One Night - Blackmail**

**TV-PG **

DRUITT: We were a part of something, something we called The Five. A small group dedicated to expanding our knowledge of the physical world. Your mother managed to procure a very rare sample of ancient untainted vampire blood. Blood that supposedly possessed miraculous properties.

MAGNUS: Ashley? What have they done to you?

TESLA: They used the Source Blood to change her.

LÍA: I was taken when I was seventeen, I don't know where from. I proceeded like you, except I was groomed for leadership. My mind was wiped as soon as I gained complete control of my vampire self. They then brought me other people, the last of which was you, Juliana. I watched you, Alfred, and George train with your abilities. I had chosen you as my second-in-command, so your training took the longest.

HENRY: If we tell her, Magnus will never let us have anything this cool again!

LÍA: You guys are in so much trouble.

**One Night**

After our little lab mistake with the crystals, we all expected Magnus to confront us that day. When she didn't we braced ourselves for it the next day. As time went on, we gradually relaxed, coming to the conclusion she didn't know. We were in the conference room, and Magnus was handing out duties for the nights when she and Henry were going to be gone.

"Someone needs to do the ten o'clock feeding Tuesday," Magnus was saying, consulting her clipboard, "Will, you can do that night."

"Sorry, Magnus," Will said, "But I've got my first date with Abby Tuesday night."

"I'll do it," Lía offered, smiling sweetly at Will.

"Thanks, Lía," Will told her.

"No problem," she replied.

"Okay, well then, that's all. I'm sure you'll all do fine while I'm gone," Magnus said.

"Speaking of which, when are you two leaving?" I asked. She consulted her watch and lifted her bag.

"Actually, we should've left two minutes ago. I'll see you Wednesday morning," she smiled at all of us.

"Bye," Kate said.

"Bye!" I agreed. Magnus smiled and left the room, heading for the elevator.

As soon as she and Henry were gone, Will muttered something about paperwork and went off to his office, leaving Kate and I alone with Lía. She smiled at us over the top of the magazine, but it wasn't a nice smile.

"I have to feed the sorkel Monday morning, and do the Tuesday night feedings?" she asked.

"Yes," I said carefully.

"Actually, you can do them," she told us, "You've got nothing better to do."

"You're the one who signed up for them!" Kate said.

"You shouldn't have if you weren't going to!" I agreed.

"You _will_ do my work," Lía said, smiling coldly.

"We will not," I said, facing her with an icy stare.

Her eyes, usually a dark blue-green, narrowed as she held my gaze. The beautiful color seemed to fade into a stormy gray. Or was it just me? I didn't move, just stared her down with utter dislike. Her eyes never left mine, but her hand moved toward her right pocket and pulled something out. Refusing to be distracted, I ignored whatever it was. She brought it up to eye level, forcing it into my vision. I blinked in surprise. It was a flash drive, eight GB, nothing special about it. I shared a confused glance at Kate. Wordlessly she reached over and plugged it into the computer next to her. A video popped up. It was standard security camera footage from the Sanctuary, black and white. It showed Henry's lab, but it was empty. Just then the door-onscreen opened and Henry came in, followed by Kate and me. He was holding a bag, very much like the one the crystals had come in. Very much like the one the crystals came in…

Lía grinned at the expressions of horror on our faces. "You wouldn't," I breathed.

Lía's sinister grinned widened. "I did." We watched the scene play out, unable to look away. Kate bumped Henry's arm and the crystal dropped onto the table and fragmented. Then our attempts to clean it up. The video ended right before we successfully remedied the problem, of course. Typical. Lía unplugged the flash drive just as I made a desperate snatch for it. She pocketed it. "So, I'll ask you again: will you do my work while Dr. Magnus is gone?" She smiled sweetly, but the malevolent look in her eyes stayed. I looked at Kate, who looked right back at me. We were backed into a corner.

**~~o0o~~**

_You look like you need to kill something,_ Aeya commented as I entered my room. _There are some fat mice that would be easy pickings down in the catacombs._

_Yeah…no thanks,_ I told her, making a face. Her tail twitched.

_Suit yourself. _I _am going to go get some lunch._ She slipped out the door as it closed, narrowly missing getting her tail caught. I made a face as I moved toward the door that separated Kate and my rooms. As usual, I met resistance trying to open the door. I pushed hard against the door. There was a sharp cracking sound, and then the fastener for the chain ripped out of the wall. Kate looked up from her book.

"I'm starved," she said, "Do you think Biggie has finished making his mysterious 'special dinner' in the kitchen yet?"

"Me too," I told her, "Why don't we go see?" She dropped the book on the bed after setting in her bookmark.

"What, you and all your vampirism can't tell what we're having for dinner tonight?"

"It's one thing to be able to smell it; it's quite another to be able to identify the smell!" I protested as she opened the door. She closed it behind us and we started off down the hallway toward the elevator.

"And," Kate laughed as the elevator began to move downward, "the Sanguine Vampiris don't go bursting through thick chains to get in a room."

"Hey!" I objected, "Are you saying I'm not a Sanguine Vampiris because I almost broke the knob off the door?"

"Well, you're not," Lía said as the doors opened. She was standing right outside, leaning against the arm of a couch.

"Not what?" I frowned.

"A Sanguine Vampiris," Lía said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What the hell are you talking about, Lía?" Kate asked, "She's a vampire."

"She's a vampire, but she's not of the species Sanguine Vampiris," Lía answered, and looked at me, "You really didn't know?"

"Then what am I?" I asked.

"Really? You're going to make me give you a history lesson?" She sat down at the table in the kitchen while Kate and I pulled up more chairs. Once we were all settled, she began in a condescending voice, like we were kindergarteners who didn't understand that 1 + 1 = 2. Her manner changed into an informative tone as she got into the story. "The vampires—Sanguine Vampiris—ruled the world thousands of years ago, blah, blah, blah. The Source Blood, what we were made from, is the blood of a vampire. The Cabal spent months devising this serum from the ancient texts they'd collected that were the notes of the scientist Icirus. He was trying to create himself an army that was superior to regular vampires. In order to be able to control his army, he gave them several weaknesses which he did not include in his notes lest they were stolen. Icirus named his new race of warriors Sanguine Vampirisa, but kept the name akhkaru for them. He bred them until he had a small army. The Sanguine Vampirisa could locate people by the scent of their blood and were ideal working partners with regular vampires as their thought processes were the same. Icirus made sure he could control his army, however, and gave them a weakness to titanium. Though titanium is unbreakable to vampires such as Nikola, it does not sap his strength as it does ours."

"Sanguine Vampirisa," I tasted the word. "Anything else I should know?"

"During his work on a private island, a stray abnormal that could not flee to Hollow Earth attacked his research and overturned his experiments. This was the unofficial beginning of the rivalry between vampires and werewolves."

"Werewolves like…Henry?"

"Yes. The Vampirisa and the Vampiris were considered by Icirus to be 'akhkaru-ahu,' blood brothers. Or, in our case, akhkaru-ahatki. Before the next ruling king destroyed them, the Vampirisa worked well with their blood brothers."

"What do you mean: worked well?" I asked.

"Vampirisa minds were designed to think like regular vampires," Lía explained, "but Icirus and the Cabal both hit a problem. They never explained exactly what, but it forced them to make us more closed-minded." She struggled to find the right words to explain what she meant. "We can't explain other, non-vampire's reasoning as well…no, that's not right…hmm… I guess it's like when someone speaks Spanish—"

"Hola. ¿Cómo estás?" I asked.

"—when you don't know Spanish. You knew what I meant! Humans are not as bad as some abnormals for us to understand."

"That would explain…" Kate trailed off.

"What?" I asked her.

"Remember that time you and Henry were working on the way to contact Praxis?" Looking back, I could see what she meant. I had been trying to work with Henry in his lab on a way to contact Ranna in Hollow Earth. He was trying to explain his idea and the problem we needed to surpass. No matter how he explained it, it didn't make sense to me. Nikola was here on one of his sporadic visits and Magnus apparently told him to come help us in the lab for the hour he was here. He listened carefully to Henry's idea and agreed that it work. I asked him to explain it to me, and suddenly it was all miraculously clear. Henry's explanations were useless, but Nikola's I understood perfectly? It made no sense at the time. Now it did.

"Would the thought processes of werewolves be included in that mix?" I asked.

Lía made a face at the mention of them and shrugged, "Possibly." I knew what she meant by the look on her face. She didn't approve of werewolves. It was written in her blood to despise them. Our blood. With this new knowledge, it would be an insult to my race to be friends with Henry. As much as I'd like to deny it, it felt true. A faint shiver of dislike rippled through my body at the thought of his name. I pushed the feeling down immediately. Henry was my friend, and my race's grudge wasn't going to change that. Ever. Deep down, I wasn't so sure it was going to be that easy.

**~~o0o~~**

"Mmm, well, have fun," I told him as he got into his car.

"Thanks." Will smiled as he shut the car door. He looked very handsome in his suit and his hair was freshly combed with plenty of hair gel. It was Tuesday night, and Lía had taken her freedom and used it to go shopping with Alfred. Luckily, she had taken Danaka with her. Danaka wasn't as sweet, innocent, and harmless as we had first thought, which makes sense, since she's a vampire. She reminded me of the way my eighth grade math teacher, Mr. Derbez, described our Advanced Algebra problems. He was always telling us that "the blood would start to flow" and "we were all going to get our tails kicked" once we reached chapter five in the math book, which was when we started factoring. He was telling us how we shouldn't get lulled into a false sense of security at the beginning of the chapter. Anyway, the way he explained it was that these problems were super easy, but that we shouldn't stop doing the work and showing all the steps because suddenly we were going to hit a problem with some "teeth." One day he made a joke in class about how the earlier section's problems were all gums—when they bite you, it doesn't really hurt. Then you relax and it doesn't really matter if you get bitten. Then another problem comes along, and when it bites you, you discover it has some teeth, and it hurts! The hidden teeth thing somehow reminded me of Danaka. Sweet, innocent—deadly.

For example, when Lía, Alfred, and Danaka originally went to the New York Sanctuary while Magnus and I were going to that conference in Gstaad—the time when the rest of the team went loco—she had initially not wanted to go. Had I been anything but a vampire, she would have gutted me through and through. The memory made me grimace and rub the spot over my heart.

_I walked down the hallway, heading toward the loud voices. I came face to face with Lía, who was holding a struggling Danaka by the wrist as she writhed. They were right outside the elevator, and Alfred was nowhere to be found._

"_Come on," Lía was saying impatiently, "Alfred is waiting."_

"_Don't wanna go!" Danaka wailed distinctly. "Like it here!"_

"_You're just going for a little while, and you'll get to meet George," I told her._

"_Don't want to go. Don't want to meet George!"_

_Lía jerked Danaka' arm and the girl was pulled unexpectedly down the hallway into the elevator without any chance to react. I followed them into the elevator and the doors closed. Lía hit the correct button to bring us down to the foyer. The Big Guy was waiting right outside the front door in the car to drive them to New York. Danaka wailed in vain and sat down hard on the floor, refusing to budge an inch as the doors dinged open. I picked her up, scolding her, "You're too old for temper tantrums, come on, let's go." _

"_No!" She screamed and struggled. Suddenly, she relaxed and a look of calm came over her._

"_Okay, that's better," I told her as I carried her toward the door. Her claws slid out, and, before I could react, she brought her right hand fingers together so they formed a many faceted point. She stabbed at me, and would've gone straight through my heart if I hadn't dropped her. She hit the ground hard and scrambled away, her bloody claws receding. I dropped to the floor, remaining conscious while my wound healed. After what seemed like a million years—though it was probably only a few minutes—I gingerly put a hand to my chest. It was completely covered in blood, but underneath it all was smooth, unmarked skin. I rose unsteadily to my feet, feeling like I'd just run all the way across the United States in a single day. Lía and Danaka were gone._

I started and realized I'd been staring at an empty car spot for the last ten minutes. I headed back upstairs to the conference room.

**~~o0o~~**

Kate and I were sitting in the conference room when the phone rang. We did rock, paper, scissors to see who had to pick up the phone. I did scissors and she did paper.

"Two out of three!" she said.

"No time!" She sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hello—" she held the phone away from her ear. A loud, animated voice came out of it. She cautiously put it up to her er again. "What?" she asked, "No, I don't—why would I—buddy, buddy! If you keep screaming at me like that, I'm just gonna—No, no! No, no, I don't know what happened to Mr. Will. No—Am I his girlfriend?" I grinned at Kate and burst out laughing as Declan and the Big Guy came in, listening. "Dude, have you seen the guy? He's a matchstick with hair gel. Oh, really? Well, maybe I should ask the health inspector to pay you a surprise visit—yeah, well, just be glad I don't parlez Italiano!" She slammed the phone back on its holder.

"Who was that?" the Big Guy asked.

"The maitre'd at Alfredo's," Kate answered, "El furioso that Will reserved a private table in Magnus's name."

Declan's laugh boomed out. "Always liked the cut of that man's jib."

"Big date. Gotta make things happen," the Big Guy said.

"Yeah, well, they're none too happy about it," Kate replied.

"Why are they in a twist?" Declan asked, "A customer's a customer."

"Because according to screamy McNaples, Will and Abby never showed up," Kate answered.

"Say what?" the Big Guy asked. I frowned.

Kate imitated the man, setting me off laughing again. "It's like poison to my mother's eyes, an empty table! Ai…"

"I love Italians. So passionate," Declan said.

"He said in 30 years they've never once had a no-show," Kate agreed.

"Yeah, well, maybe the food's slipping," Declan suggested.

"Alfredo's? Not a chance. That place is booked up months in advance for good reason," grunted the Big Guy.

"It's odd that he didn't at least call," Declan mused.

"Hmm. Guys…Thinking out loud here, but maybe his date with Abby got off to a good start," Kate said.

"Kate!" I scolded. The Big Guy and Declan looked at each other, puzzled. She looked at them both.

"As in, a really good start," Kate said. They looked at each other and back at her questioningly. "As in they never left her apartment! Work with me, people!" Kate said. They caught on finally, making me roll my eyes.

"No, not a chance," the Big Guy said.

"Mate, the food's that good?" Declan asked.

"Yes," the Big Guy grunted solemnly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Better than spontaneous _pre-date nookie_?" Kate asked, drawing out each word. She looked at him expectantly.

"Yes," he affirmed. The shocked look on her face set me off laughing again.

**~~o0o~~**

"You're sure there's nothing?" Kate asked. "I've put word out to our contacts, asking if anybody knows anything or saw them, but no one does."

"I…don't…see…anything…" I replied as I scrolled through the list. I clicked the mouse to pull up another one. The phone rang. Kate and I looked at each other. At the same time, we did Rock, Paper, Scissors, and she lost again, paper versus rock. She picked up the phone and held it up to her ear. "You really don't have good luck today," I told her. She motioned at me to shut up and listened intently. She pulled a pen and a stack of sticky notes toward her and scribbled something quickly. After a few minutes she hung up. "So…who was that?" I asked.

She frowned. "I need you to look something up in the database for me."

"Okay, what?"

"The call was from Squid, the red-list dealer we buy firebrats from, and he was in a tizzy because we bought firebrats from somebody else."

"But…we didn't buy any fire—"

"Exactly. The woman who asked for the Sanctuary rate he described as: sweet, naïve, dressed like she was going out—"

"Abby," I nodded.

"Yeah. Apparently she bought a whole bunch of red-list stuff tonight. So I need you to cross reference this list." She pulled a sticky note off the pad. I typed in the names of the red-list items and hit "Search." It thought a minute and a list appeared, but the message at the top read: _No exact matches._

"I got nothing," I told her. She looked over my shoulder.

She pointed at the screen. "But look at the closest match. Everything but the Moroccan cave scorpion."

"That's the cure for a…" I squinted at the screen. "Does that say Jessoped attack? What's a Jessoped?"

"It's like a giant porcupine thing that shoots poisoned quills," Kate explained.

"You think Will got quilled?"

"If so, why wouldn't they just come here?"

"I don't know, but we should show this to the Big Guy and Declan."

"Yeah, I've downloaded all the info onto my tablet," Kate said, "And I've asked for any info on a recent Jessoped attack or sighting." She unplugged it from the computer and we left with it for the conference room.

"Okay, so no witnesses saw them go anywhere near Alfredo's, but we got something else," Kate said as we walked in. She handed him the tablet.

"What's this?" he asked as he took it. "Black market stuff…"

"Red list dealers," the Big Guy agreed.

"I got a call from Squid asking us why we didn't go to him for firebrats. Accusing us of undercutting him as our supplier," Kate explained.

"Firebrats. We haven't bought any recently," the Big Guy said.

"That's what I thought," I agreed.

"Well, someone did, tonight, a woman. She bought a pod from Remy and asked for the Sanctuary rate. She was wholesome, sweet, couldn't haggle to save her life," Kate said.

"Abby," the Big Guy grunted.

"What the hell is she doing buying red list materials?" Declan asked, alarmed.

"And check out the list. Harper mites, Savoy leeches, and get this, a Moroccan Cave Scorpion," Kate said.

"Ooh, they're nasty," the Big Guy commented.

"I cross-referenced the list in the database, and all of them except for the scorpion are ingredients that make up a counter-toxin for—" she began.

"Jessoped attack," the Big Guy grunted.

"Right."

"No direct contact from Will likely means the situation's not good," Declan pointed out.

"You think he's infected?" the Big Guy asked.

"Well, if one of them is hurt, why not come here?" Declan asked.

"Exactly. You know, I think that Will told Abby to get those things knowing that it would grab our attention," Kate suggested.

"He needs our help," the Big Guy realized.

"Wait a second," Declan said, "I want to try something." He and the Big Guy crowded around the computer. Just then the phone rang. Before we could start Rock, Paper, Scissors again, my cell phone rang. Kate sighed and picked up the phone, retreating toward the fire. I answered my phone and listened. The voice on the other end was a hoarse whisper.

"Can't talk long. See, word is, some gang—high up on the food chain, mind you—got in a sticky spot with a Jessoped earlier tonight. They were running some deal, see, and they thought they could cheat the owner, but he was expecting it. He released the Jessoped on them, and their leader got hit with some nasty quills." His voice dropped even lower. "Word is, they were planning to meet some big cash opportunity tonight. But, uh, don't tell anyone I told you…"

"I won't, I promise," I said, "Thanks for your help." I stuck the phone back into my pocket and went back over to the Big Guy and Declan. Declan was pointing to building on the map on the computer.

"He gave us his location," the Big Guy said.

"Indeed. Clever lad," Declan agreed.

"The plot thickens," Kate came over. "Word is people from something called the Vendetta crew ran into a Jessoped _tonight_."

"I heard the same thing, though the guy didn't know the name of the gang," I nodded.

"Vendetta crew?" the Big Guy queried.

"Heard of them. Nasty bunch," Declan told him.

"Well, it seems like their boss, one Horatio Gibbs, got hit by a bunch of toxic quills at a weapons buy gone bad. So this Gibbs guy gets quilled, they kidnap Will to make them a counter-toxin," Kate said.

"Wrong man for the job," the Big Guy grunted.

"Tell me about it," Kate agreed.

"They probably didn't have much choice," I told them, "According to my informant, they're supposed to be meeting some big cash opportunity tonight. With Magnus out of town, Will must have seemed like the next best option."

"I know how that works," Kate said, "If the leader—the one who arranged the whole deal—doesn't show up, things tend to go sour from there."

"Good news is we've got a possible location. I'll put together a tactical team," Declan said.

**~~o0o~~**

It was chilly up on the roof, but the lights of Old City at night sparkled warmly below. Unfortunately, however, we weren't up here to look at lights. "You wanted confirmation," Declan said from by the scope. I peered across at the building Declan had specified. My night vision allowed me to see the vague outlines of two men—or women, I couldn't tell—patrolling the roof of the building.

"Hello, gangsters. Right under our noses," Kate commented.

"Pound to a penny those lads are holding Will and Abby inside," Declan said.

"We should have the tactical team weapon up," Kate suggested.

"Absolutely," Declan agreed. We headed down to the armory to suit up. On the way, Declan said, "The tactical team will be waiting for you two by the time you're suited up. I have some things to attend to and then I'll meet you in the main lab. There was only one team available at such short notice. You, Tayla, I think should know them."

"Oh?"

He only smiled and went on his way. Kate and I opened the doors to the armory and pulled on our gear. As I pulled my gun off the rack, I asked, "You want to lead this mission?"

"Sure," she replied, taking her own weapon I held out to her. We exited the room to find the team waiting outside, including the Big Guy, who only held a weapon. I reached down to make sure the titanium dagger was that I always carried around with me was secure and concealed. I knew the team, just as Declan had predicted. It was Aaron and two of his squad. One was Mike—short for Michael—who was black and an excellent shot. And, unlike some military personnel, he followed orders well. The other man—Reg—was bald and looked tough, but firmly believed in the "no man left behind" statement. Aaron nodded to me, but his face was set in its fierce determination that came before and during a mission. I admired him for it. Me? I was more of a person who doesn't realize something bad is going to happen until it's happening, which, in the Sanctuary, isn't such a good thing. I mean, like, I'm not as scared or serious as I should be until the super-bad-thing-that-we-were-supposed-to-keep-from-happening-at-all-costs was happening.

We all trooped into the elevator, while Kate started briefing us on the plan. "Mike, you're with the Big Guy. Aaron, you're with Tayla. Reg and I will be together. Once we get inside, the goal is to capture the Vendetta Crew and find Will, Abby, or any clues to their whereabouts. Before that, hold positions and wait for the command. And clean targets. We want to bring them home in one piece." The elevator doors opened, revealing Declan on the other side, leaning against the wall. "Hey," she greeted him, "Why aren't you geared up?"

"The mission's been scrubbed. You're all to stand down," he said.

We all looked at him. "On whose orders?" Kate and I demanded in unison.

"Helen Magnus," he offered. Kate looked back at the Big Guy and me in confusion.

**~~o0o~~**

"Doc, we need to get going on this now!" Kate said impatiently.

"I know this is time sensitive, but Henry and I won't be back there until tomorrow," Magnus said on the computer.

"Doc, we have Will and Abby's location. They're hostages. What's the problem?" Kate asked.

"There are a number of details concerning this Vendetta Crew that you need to know," Magnus answered.

"I had a friend at Interpol send me a file. They're a band of killers, international. No abnormal activity among them that I can detect," Declan told her.

"True, but they are of special interest to our covert operatives at the Beijing Sanctuary," Magnus explained.

"Because?" the Big Guy asked.

"Beijing believes that the Vendetta leader, Gibbs, is close to connecting with a ring of abnormal smugglers. In fact, our intel indicates that he's due to connect with a slave ship at some point tonight."

"The Ghost Ship? You're joking," Declan said.

"Unregistered vessel carrying hundreds of abnormals to be sold on the black market…as slaves," the Big Guy said.

"I thought that was a myth," Kate said.

"We've been trying to shut them down for months. We think Gibbs knows when and where that ship will dock. If we storm that building now, we may well lose our only chance to find that ship," Magnus explained.

"So, what, we just sit on our hands and wait?" Kate asked in disbelief.

"I know it's intolerable, Kate, but for now, I ask that you keep a close watch on the situation, and hope that Will can handle things on his own," Magnus replied, "I've seen the list of ingredients he had Abby purchase. He does in fact have everything he needs to make that counter-toxin. Now, with luck, Will will keep Gibbs alive long enough for us to follow him to that ship. I'm sorry, but there far are too many innocents at stake." Kate nodded finally. "Thank you," Magnus told her, "Until tomorrow."

"Bye," I said.

"Bye," Kate said. The screen blinked black. "All right," Kate said to the tactical team as they came in, "New plan. We've got to tail them to that Ghost Ship." We all got in the elevator again and Kate gave us the new plan. "Same pairings as before. Reg and I will wait by the docks for a location from Mike and Biggie after giving you, Declan, the status up on the roof. Tayla and Aaron, your job is to alert Mike and the Big Guy of the direction the crew is going so they can tail them. After they've gone, your goal is to find Will and Abby or any info on their whereabouts in that building. Follow any leads and take them back to the Sanctuary. Mike and I will tail the Vendetta Crew to their destination. Hide with a good view and hold your position and wait for the command. Again, clean targets; we want to bring them home in one piece."

"Sounds good," Declan agreed. When the doors dinged open to go to the garage, all of us stepped out except Declan, who had to go back up. We got into our separate vans and took off into the night.

It was slightly warmer where I stood. Behind these bushes I was sitting in was a pipe that was letting out a steady stream of warm air. I kept an eye on the man guarding the door. Aaron signaling to me across the way caught my eye. Two fingers toward the eyes, then toward the building. _Can you see?_ I nodded a silent yes. He dipped his head. I saw Kate dart away towards her van and drive off with Reg towards the docks. We waited there for about ten minutes before a loud crash was heard. A minute later, men filed out the front into the van parked there. The man matching the picture of Horatio Gibbs got in, limping slightly on one leg. There was no sign of Will and Abby. I picked up my radio from the dirt. The van pulled out of the driveway and I scrunched against the wall, trying to hide from the headlights that would reveal me. The van drove off southeast down the road. I held the radio up to my mouth and spoke into it. "Big Guy, they're headed your way. Southeast down Irvin Street."

"Copy that," the Big Guy grunted back. I signaled to Aaron that I was ready to go in. We got up from our hiding places and approached the door. It was locked and Aaron pulled out his lock pick. In a matter of ten seconds, we were pushing the door open. It was all quiet inside. We moved softly, guns ready. We went down the steps and into the next room. It wasn't empty.

"Will!" I cried. Aaron looked happy too. Will was leaning over Abby, and empty syringe in his hand. She was lying on the table, looking tired but happy. We rushed toward them. Abby lifted her head in surprise.

"Will are you and Abby okay?" I stopped dead upon seeing the quills embedded in Abby's arm. "Is she…"

"I gave her the counter-toxin," Will said, "But we should get back to the Sanctuary as soon as possible."

I moved over to the other side to get a better look. I lightly brushed a quill with my hand and Abby flinched. "No way are we going to be able to move her like this, we need to get the quills out first." I braced my hand against her arm and spoke directly to Abby. "I'm going to pull these out, okay?"

"Does…does she know what she's doing?" Abby asked Will. I grinned and yanked a quill out smoothly. Abby winced and then relaxed a little. I pulled out the other two and went after some antiseptic and bandages from the red bag on the floor. I wrapped her arm up. "Can you stand?" I asked her.

"Of course," she swung into a sitting position, "_Dr._ Magnus."

"Oh, stop it!" I told her, rolling my eyes. "Remember who actually made the counter-toxin." Leaning on Will for support, she stood up. We walked out of the building and into the van. When we got back to the Sanctuary, Declan and I set her up in the infirmary with Will watching and helping here and there.

**~~o0o~~**

When Magnus arrived with Henry the next morning, Kate had already taken Gibbs and his men to custody. The first thing Magnus did was check on Abby. She examined her bandage first and then checked for any of the toxin left in her bloodstream. She smiled at Will and me. "The patient will live," she said. Will and I smiled at her praise. She left the infirmary and I didn't see her after that for a while, until I happened to be walking through the conference room on the way to the kitchen. Magnus was dozing on the couch. I tiptoed past as not to wake her. She shifted in position and I paused, but she remained fast asleep. I made it to the kitchen and was searching the refrigerator for some animal plasma (Nikola stop drinking it all when you stop by!) when I heard Will's voice. He had spent most of the day in the infirmary by Abby's side.

"Long night?"

"What time is it?" came Magnus's answered, slightly slurred from sleep.

"It's about noon. How's that jet lag?" he asked.

"I just didn't want to go to bed until we—" she sounded more awake now.

"No, she's fine. That counter-toxin worked like a charm. Who knew I had that kind of game, huh?"

"From memory, with no lab to speak of," Magnus said.

"At gunpoint, no less," Will added.

"Incredibly well done, Will," she praised him.

"Thank you, and with Gibbs and the slave trades all locked up, I'd say that's what we call a win-win," he said.

"True. However…" she began.

"Here we go," Will said.

"Using my name to get a table at my favorite restaurant? Incredibly low-brow, Will. I'm still trying to make amends with Alfredo."

"And I still owe Abby a date, so…I've never eaten at this restaurant. Is the food really that good?" he asked.

"Oh, it's _that_ good," she said.

**Thanks for reading! I've decided I want better names for the chapters, so here's what I've come up with:**

Hero - And Rescue, But Not of the Rescue

Pavor Nocturnus - The Enigma

Fragments - Rachel's Diffident Lover

Veritas - Beetles, Spiders, and Bigfoot: Oh My!

Next Tuesday - A Natural Tribute

Penance - The Best of All Mirages

Haunted - It's Watching Us

Kali Part 1 - Hot, Dry, and Sandy

Kali Part 2 - We Might've Just Caused the Destruction of the World

Kali Part 3 - Big Spider, Little Spider: Equally Deadly

Firewall - Giant Lizards and Brain-Sucking White Creatures

Bank Job - One Little Egg, Two Little Eggs…Oh No, Where'd They Go?

Trail of Blood - Old City's Operation Paranormal

Hero II: Broken Arrow - Brr! Lake Michigan is Cold!

Animus - I Get a Cat

Breach and For King and Country - Secrets and Lies

Vigilante - Magnus Has Shot Me More Times Than I Can Count

The Hollow Men - Never Trust Jack the Ripper

Pax Romana - I'm Not Alone! …Although I'd Rather Be

Hangover - Did We Kill the U.N. Security Chief?

One Night - Blackmail

Metamorphosis - Color Coded Underwear

Wingman - Double Date…For Them

Awakening - One Sanguine Vampiris is Enough

Carentan - Cerellium and Saffron

Out of the Blue - Nightmarish Bliss

Into the Black – As Magnus Would Say, "Bloody Hell!"

Tempus - A Daunting Prospect

Uprising - Whispers Behind My Back

Untouchable - Interrogation

Monsoon - We Just Bought That Plane!

Resistance - Department of Tesla Affairs

Homecoming - Orphans or No Orphans?

Icebreaker - Seeing Double

Fugue - Magnus's Tirade

**So, what do you think?**


	23. Metamorphosis: Color Coded Underwear

**Hi everyone! Yes, I know, this chapter's way late. Sorry. I've been busy, and, as you can see, this is being posted at 12:30 in the morning…Anyway, I'll get Wingman out there ASAP and I already have Awakening written from a while ago, although it needs some editing, so many facts have been changed.**

**Chapter 23: Metamorphosis – Color Coded Underwear**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_MAGNUS: Tibet. That's the gateway. We leave at first light._

_HENRY: If we tell her, Magnus will never let us have anything this cool again!_

_LÍA: You guys are in so much trouble._

"You haven't told her yet?" Kate asked incredulously. We were walking to the morning's briefing, Henry, Big Guy, Kate, and I.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down, okay?" Henry said. Kate laughed. "I've been trying to tell her, I just haven't had the chance."

"Well, what about this morning?" she asked.

"No! No, she was in a good mood! I'm not going to spoil that!"

"You should tell her before she finds out," the Big Guy advised.

"All right, what am I supposed to do? Just walk in there and say: 'Hey Doc, sorry I broke your glovefish aquarium'?"

"Yes," the Big Guy said.

"That's exactly what you're supposed to do," Kate said.

"Guys, she'll kill me," Henry said, "Do you have any idea how much those things cost?"

"A lot," supplied the Big Guy.

"Yeah, a lot is right, that thing's made of synthetic coronum, we've got to ship that special from Iceland!"

"She probably already knows," the Big Guy said.

"Lía probably found out too, if Magnus didn't," I said, "Do you really want her to have another thing to hold over our heads?"

"What?" the Big Guy asked.

"Nothing," we all answered simultaneously.

"No, no way," Henry continued, "because I moved the feeding log to cover up the crack and I deleted the security footage." He finished that with a direct look at me.

"You deleted the security footage?" Kate asked incredulously.

"Oh my God I wish you were a mime right now," he said.

"You're in so much trouble," she told him as we neared Magnus's office.

"Shh!" We entered the room to find Magnus ready and waiting for us. She capped her pen and moved a pile of paperwork.

"Oh good, you're here. Let's get started," she said, shifting the multitude of folders to the side. Henry, Kate, and I sat down on the couch and the Big Guy chose an armchair. "First things first," Magnus said, coming over and sitting down, "Henry. I need to you to order a new aquarium for the glovefish. Ours seems to have a crack in it." I shared an amused glance with Kate.

"Oh. Really?" Henry asked a bit too dramatically. I stifled a laugh. "How did that happen?" He shifted uneasily. The Big Guy looked down, not looking at him.

"No idea. But it needs to be replaced as soon as possible," Magnus said. Was it just me, or was she matching the I'm-trying-to-hide-that-I'm-lying-but-I'm-not-doing-so-well tone in Henry's voice?

"Wow. Yeah, I will get right on that," Henry said, using this excuse to leave the room.

He had just risen to his feet when Magnus added, "Good, and while you're at it—" He promptly sat back down like he'd just been shifting to a more comfortable position. "—perhaps you can look into why somebody used your login to delete eight minutes of security video from the main log." Busted. Magnus looked at him knowingly, but obviously expected an answer. The Big Guy looked at him like, "I told you so." Henry shrank back.

"Okay Doc I'm sorry I just threw the—" he began really fast.

"Hang on," she cut him off, "Where's Will?"

"I haven't seen him all morning," Kate shrugged.

"Me neither," I agreed, glancing around the room. Henry, looking thoroughly relieved, shook his head.

"He probably just slept late," Kate said, "I'll go get him." She got up and left the room.

"Not like Will, to sleep late," I commented, "He's usually up bright and early."

"We all have our days," Henry shrugged.

"Meanwhile," Magnus consulted the file folder on her lap. "Ah, yes. Tayla, I need you to pack those nubbins today for their trip to the Grozny Sanctuary. We have to get them shipped in the next two days in order for them to get to Grozny before the rebel leader has his inspection," Magnus told me.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that as soon as we're done here."

"Normal protocols for them, etc. Henry, you'll need to find her the cryo container to keep them cool. You said you had one big enough for a female and a male and two babies?"

"Yeah, I'll get it," Henry said.

"He'll be right out," Kate came back. She retook her seat on the couch next to me.

"Also…there have been several cases of laminitis amongst the borzels, caused by overfeeding," she said.

"I can't help it. They're cute!" Kate protested. I giggled.

"That may be the—Will! Nice of you to finally join us," Magnus said suddenly. I turned to see Will, his hair looking like he'd just gotten out of bed, walk in the room.

"Yeah, sorry, I, uh, slept through my alarm," he explained. I looked back at Magnus, waiting for her to go on about the laminitis.

"Dude, what's with your face?" Henry asked. I looked up. Henry went toward Will, staring at something on his face. It had a cross pattern embedded in his skin, almost like…scales.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"Well, did you sleep on a tennis racket or something?" Henry asked, peering at it. He reached out.

"Wait, stop! Don't—don't touch it," Magnus said, coming closer to look.

"What is it?" he asked. She didn't answer him. "Will...could you go down to the infirmary please?"

"Magnus, what—?" he said, not moving.

"And don't touch anything on your way down," she ordered. "The rest of you, full hazmat gear, standard protocol." Will sighed and left for the elevator. Magnus and Henry followed him down to the nearest closet with the gear in it, but Kate and I had to walk up three flights of stairs to reach the next nearest. We suited up.

"I really hate these things," I muttered as I slipped it on over my head. "It's probably nothing anyway."

"Yeah," Kate said, but she didn't look so sure.

"It's screwing with my hearing," I complained as we opened the door to leave the closet with our orange-gloved hands.

"Aww, poor you, your hearing's been reduced to a normal human's…" Kate teased.

**~~o0o~~**

Magnus and Henry, both suited up, met us outside the infirmary. "So, what's going on with him, Doc?" Kate asked.

"I need to run the tests," she said.

"But…?" Kate prompted.

"I don't think this is a natural occurrence," she said finally. "I need you three to go and check his room for any bio-hazards." Kate, Henry, and I looked at each other. We all felt uncomfortable with this invasion of privacy, but we knew it had to be done.

"Okay," I agreed finally. Kate and Henry nodded. We all headed up to the residential level. I turned the knob to Will's room and went inside. Kate started with taking down a few keepsake boxes from the dresser and placing them on the bed. Then she pulled open a dresser drawer. "Look at this place," Kate said from next to me. I was rifling through a box of unfinished files and folders. "It's immaculate."

"What can I say?" Henry said, "He's a detail-oriented guy." He was across the room, going through more of Will's possessions. Less than half the files in the box I was flipping through were filled out and signed.

"He needs to spend less time making his room neat and orderly and more time getting these papers finished," I commented as shoved the box back in its place.

"Okay, but seriously? Color-coded underwear?" she asked, pulling open a drawer and lifting one.

"Less talk, more rifling," Henry said testily. She closed the drawer and surveyed the room. I put the lid back on the top of the box and started going through the bookshelf.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked. I looked up. She shook her head slightly.

"It just feels weird, pawing through his stuff like this."

"Yeah," Henry said as he lifted a sample to put in a plastic bag, "I know. But it's gotta be done; if there's a bio-hazard in here the sooner we find it the better."

"Yeah, I guess," Kate said. As I watched her, she lifted a glowing blue rod out of a small treasures box.

"It's really freaking you out, isn't it?" Henry asked, voicing my thoughts.

"What?" she turned toward him with a glance at me.

"Well, what's happening to Will. Him turning into something else."

She scoffed unconvincingly. "What are you talking about?"

"No, Kate, I totally get it," Henry said, coming closer. Kate turned away to continue going through the small box. "First time I changed it was terrifying. Really terrifying." She stopped, listening to him, but then shook her head.

"I'm not, I'm..." she turned around, struggling to voice her feelings. "I don't know why it's getting to me so much. I..."

"Because you are 100% human," Henry told her, "This kind of change is terrifying."

"Yeah, but you think I'd get used to it by now, right? I live in a room connected with a vampire's and I'm friends with a person who can turn into a wolf!"

"Kate, we're going to get Will back to normal," Henry promised, and I nodded, supporting him. "We are." He paused. "Well, I mean, like, your kind of normal." Kate laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Hey Hank," she said, reaching into the now open drawer behind her.

"What?"

"Ah! Catch!" She threw some of the underwear at him.

"Oh, is that underwear, that is—"

"Oh yeah," she said.

"He's going to be so mad at you," Henry told her.

"You ruined his color-coding!" I said in mock horror.

**~~o0o~~**

"Magnus," Henry stopped her. We were on the infirmary level, and Magnus looked slightly worried. She was still wearing her hazmat suit, but she was holding her helmet under one arm.

"Helmet?" I asked questioningly.

"Turns out he's not contagious," she said. I pulled mine off as Kate and Henry did as well. "That's the good news," she continued, "the bad…"

"You still don't know what's happening to him," I finished, nodding. She nodded. "Did the search of his quarters reveal anything?"

"Other than he's a neat freak?" Kate asked.

"No," Henry answered, "I ran all the substances through our database. Nothing unknown, and nothing that would have caused this."

"All right," Magnus sighed, "I'll go check in on him and ask if he's done anything unusual lately."

"What can we do, Doc?" Kate offered.

"Until we get some conclusive blood or DNA test results, there's nothing you really can do. You're all excused."

"Okay," we all agreed. She turned down the hallway and started back the way she'd come. We walked toward the main lab and went into Henry's office/lab. He used it as both.

"Wait a minute," I said. They looked at me. "Done anything unusual lately? It's the Sanctuary!"

"You've got a point there," Henry nodded.

"Has this ever happened before?" Kate asked.

"Someone turning into something else?" I prompted Henry.

"Yeah, a couple times," Henry said, "but not really ever like this. One of Magnus's earlier protégés, when Ash and I were kids. Unlike with Will though, Magnus knew what caused it and was able to change him back. All I really remember was that his lower half turned into like a slug thing, and so he left this trail of gooey—"

"Hey!" Will said, walking in.

"Hey! Well, there he is. So, Magnus finally let you out?" Henry asked.

"Yeah. I think she, uh, just put me up there to get caught up on some work," Will smiled.

"Cool," replied Henry. There was an uncomfortable lapse in the conversation.

"What? Am I interrupting something?" Will asked.

"No!" Henry said at once.

"Nah," Kate answered.

"Not at all. We're just, um, talking about, uh…" Henry paused, unable to think of anything.

"Baseball!" the Big Guy supplied.

"Baseball," Kate and Henry nodded.

"You guys were talking about baseball?" Will asked incredulously.

"Uh-huh," the Big Guy answered.

"Mm-hm. Yeah, uh...Jays are looking good this year," Henry told him.

"Uh-huh," the Big Guy agreed.

"Yeah, strong middle relief," Kate said.

"Get some production out of the back end of the order, they might do well," the Big Guy said.

"Have a decent chance," I agreed.

"Aw, come on, give me a break, guys," Will said. He pointed to each of us in turn. "Cubbies, Rays, Red Sox, and I know for a fact that you guys would rather watch cricket than a Jays game, so what is going on? You don't even watch baseball, Tayla! Come on, what is it?

"It's true," the Big Guy grunted.

"Really, were you talking about me, or what?" Will asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah. Sorry, dude, we…we didn't know how comfortable you'd be, and…" Henry said.

"What? Look, I-I'm the same person, I just have a few more scales, that's all. Just treat me like you'd normally treat me, all right?" Will requested.

"How does it feel?" Henry asked.

"Doesn't really feel like anything. I mean, I can't even really tell it's there," Will answered.

"Magnus know what it is yet?" the Big Guy asked.

"No, she's doing tests," Will replied.

"Okay, this might be an uncomfortable question, but…" Kate began.

"No, no, look, you can ask me anything you want, I promise," Will assured her.

"Um…any way you can save us 15% percent or more on car insurance?" Kate asked. We all burst out laughing, and the Big Guy gave her a high-five.

"Geico?" Will asked, "That's funny."

"You should see your face," Kate said, still laughing.

"Glad you're having a good time," Will said, almost sarcastically.

**~~o0o~~**

That night passed peacefully without incident. Magnus, to no one's surprise, had stayed up all night in the lab, skipping dinner. No one had seen her since the Big Guy brought her tea around three in the afternoon yesterday, so we had no idea how she was faring. Kate had gotten up early to prepare a breakfast to Will, which she was probably delivering to him right about now. Scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, juice, the works. I finished making my bed and threw on a light jacket as I headed out the door. I walked down the hallway, planning on seeing if Magnus was making any progress. It was like Henry said: somehow, Will changing didn't frighten me nearly as much as it did Kate. All of a sudden, a crash and a shout of surprise pierced the tranquil morning. I ran in the direction of the source, skidding to a halt in front of Will's open bedroom door. Kate was backed up into a dresser, looking between Will, who was lying on the ground, and the wall. Will gingerly got up.

"Will!" Kate exclaimed, "Oh my God, are you okay? What were you doing up there?"

"What happened?" I asked, taking in Will, scalier than ever, Kate, staring at him in shock, and the breakfast food tray overturned on the floor. Bits of yellow scrambled eggs were everywhere, embedding themselves in the carpet.

"Sorry?" Will offered, "I was just…testing this out." He held up a hand for us to see. The fingertips almost looked blackened and made an odd squelching noise when he brought them together.

"You can climb up walls?" I asked incredulously.

"Apparently so," he answered.

"You should go show Magnus," Kate said, nodding, eyes still fixed on his hands.

"Take the ground route," I advised, "People might be walking around with more dangerous things in their hands than scrambled eggs."

"Yeah," Will agreed, glancing down at the bits and pieces. "Sure you don't need any help cleaning up?"

"No, we're good," I answered, "The sooner you show Magnus, the sooner she can use it to revert you back to normal." Will left, and Kate and I got to work, picking eggs out of the carpet. Surprisingly, it didn't take that long, and made it to the lab in time to hear Magnus's verdict.

"Interesting," Magnus said, examining Will's hand using her own, gloved, ones.

"I used a different word while scraping scrambled eggs off the floor, something with four letters," Kate said. I smiled.

"I already apologized, and you need to learn how to knock," Will told her.

"I did! You need to not hang out on the ceiling," Kate protested.

"This is going to help you find out what's causing this, right?" Will asked Magnus.

"Actually, this rather confuses the issue," she answered, "I'd originally thought these spores were from an offshoot of the frilled coral rat, but their habitat is entirely aquatic. These…these are clearly meant for climbing."

"And scaring the crap out of people," Kate added.

"So…we're back to square one?"

"Well, not exactly. With this new variable, I don't need to waste my time testing the theories I was working with," Magnus said brightly, filling a syringe.

"Yeah, that's kind of what square one means," Will pointed out.

"Here, this is a mild antimetabolite. Let's see what effect it has. There we go." She injected him with the light green liquid. "Right. I'm going back to my lab. Try to relax, and let me know if there's any changes in your physiology."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…You see that, right there?" he asked, pointing at her.

"What?"

"That look. You're going all Marcus Welby on me, and I know you only do that when you're really worried about something," Will told her.

"Don't be silly. I'm running some tests. I'll come back and check on you later," she answered.

"Fine," Will said, staring after her, "I'll go wait in my room."

"I'd go with you, but I still have to package those nubbins for Grozny," I told him apologetically, "I never got around to it yesterday."

"It's fine," he answered. I nodded and left the room.

The nubbins' food was empty again, as usual. I prepped the cages, thinking how much easier this would be if Magnus had let Henry install one of those claws, you know, like in those arcade games, on the top of their cage. Then I could just press a few buttons and have the nubbins I needed dropped down a chute into the cage. Without it, the process would take several hours. I accessed the nearest computer and closed all the airtight security doors, leaving only the vents leading directly outside open to let oxygen in. Then I set the control panel's temperature for the habitat even colder. The last time anyone had had to do this was before I came here, while I was still with the Cabal. Henry and Nikola had needed to test the weapon they were planning on using to stop Ashley on something with Source Blood physiology. Nikola had injected his own blood into the nubbin Damian to test the weapon. I never found out what had happened to Damian after the experiment was over. All I know is, there's no Damian now.

The temperature reading dropped to a sufficient degree and I noted that all the nubbins came out of camo mode to snooze peacefully. I carefully stuck a gloved hand into the exhibit, picking up a female nubbin carefully. She snoozed on as I maneuvered her carefully toward the open slot, but she stirred as soon as she met with the warm air outside. I dropped her quickly into the cryo container Henry had procured and set it to cool down.

I replicated the process three more times, until I had an adult male, female, and two baby nubbins. I shut the door to their exhibit and set the computer to cycle the air in this corridor outside and replace it with fresh stuff for the next five minutes. I double and triple-checked their cage, knowing of the havoc that occurred last time one of them got loose, and used the computer to lift the security doors. I delivered the nubbin package to Henry's lab, but he wasn't there. I detected his voice and followed him into the foyer. As soon as I entered, I noticed Will on the wall. The usual brass chandelier hung from the ceiling and it looked like Will was going for it. Henry stood below, looking up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh," Henry said. He jumped slightly. "Will's just gonna replace one of the bulbs on that Baccarat crystal chandelier given to Magnus in 1938 by the Marquess of Linlithgow. Magnus has been hassling me for months to change the bulbs in that chandelier.

"Why didn't you just use a ladder? Or ask one of the flying abnormals to do it?" I asked.

"Can you find me a ladder on the market that'll go up that high?" he countered, "And all the flying abnormals wanted cash."

"Ow…" Will muttered. We both looked up.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Henry asked.

"I don't know, it's just really bright or something…" Will said. He fell to the floor. Henry and I ran towards his crumpled form on the ground.

"Will! Will! Hey! You okay? Help! I need help here!" Henry called. I ran over and hit the radio on the wall.

"Magnus! Magnus! We're in the foyer; we need help with Will!"

**~~o0o~~**

"All right, all right. Take it easy," Magnus said, toning down the light above Will as he lifted his heavily bandaged arm to shield himself.

"Yeah, so much for the Spider-Man routine," Will said.

"Count yourself lucky. Your hardened bone structure and the scaling on your body protected you from a more serious injury. What were you doing up there anyway?" she asked.

Henry spoke up. "He was changing a light bulb on that chandelier." Magnus looked from Henry to Will.

"It's on a winch!" she said, "There's a control panel under the staircase!"

"Yeah, I probably should have known that," Henry said.

Will lifted his burned hand. "What the hell?"

"You've developed a sensitivity to UV rays," Magnus answered.

"Yeah, you think?"

"This is a good thing," Magnus said with somewhat forced optimism.

"Yeah, I know, Magnus, it's another symptom. When are we going to find out what it is?"

"Actually, I have a theory. First, we need to take precautions to protect you from direct sunlight," she said.

**~~o0o~~**

"I really appreciate this, guys," Will said, coming up to us to admire our work. All the windows were shrouded with black cloth, blocking out the sunlight. Light still came in, but there were no more direct rays that could hurt him. To tell you the truth, I was enjoying the darkened hallway. Unlike Henry and Kate, my nocturnal instincts were almost just as active as my diurnal ones.

"Aw, hey, man, it's the least we can do," Henry told him.

"Yeah, sunshine's overrated anyway," Kate said, finishing the one she was working on.

"Ah, there. You're good from here to your room, all the way to your office, including the elevator," the Big Guy informed him.

"Just remember to press 'down'," Kate joked.

"Right…" Will replied.

"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you," Magnus said, coming up the hallway.

"All you had to do was follow the trail of black fabric. What is it?" Will asked.

"I finally figured out why the DNA of this creature you're turning into isn't in any of our databases. It's not from Earth."

"You mean, like—like, aliens?" Henry asked, jumping down to stand next to her.

"Your experience with the sunlight gave me the idea, so I scanned through the records that Tesla was able to glean from the holographic map, and I found a perfect match."

"Don't tell me…" Will said.

"I'm afraid so. It appears that the creature that infected you is from Hollow Earth. Kate, Henry, could you come with me please?" They nodded, wondering what she wanted. She led them into the elevator and the doors closed. Will and I looked at each other.

**~~o0o~~**

"I wanted to show you this before I talked to Will. It's called a cillobar, a predatory plant-animal hybrid," Magnus said, pointing to the screen.

"Boy, that is one ugly weed," Henry commented.

"Comparatively rare, even by underworld standards. It reproduces by infecting its victims with its spores," Magnus told us.

"You didn't run across any cillobar," the Big Guy pointed out.

"We didn't have to. According to the data, the creature blooms at the end of its life, spreading hundreds of spores over a wide area. Now, most aren't viable, but the ones that are can survive outside a host for up to six months," Magnus explained.

"So Will just picked one up along the trail to the city?" Kate asked.

"We must have crossed through its habitat at some point, perhaps while we were running through the Basilisk field."

"Okay, what about us?" Henry asked.

"Your scans came back clean," Magnus assured them.

"You?" the Big Guy grunted.

"As did mine," she replied.

"Remind me never to go camping in Hollow Earth," Kate muttered.

"You got it," I said.

"What can we do about it now?" the Big Guy asked.

"Well, unfortunately, there's very little information in the file about how to treat a suspected contamination, but now that we have an idea where this is headed, we have options."

"Such as?" Kate asked.

"Henry…I'd like you to get in touch with Ranna." We all stared at her.

"Okay—umm, wait, as in Praxis, Hollow Earth Ranna?" Henry realized.

"She'll put us in touch with my father. Now, if anyone can provide us with information on a treatment, he can," Magnus said.

"Okay, but is this a good idea? I mean, Ranna was pretty firm on the whole 'don't call us, we'll call you' dynamic," Kate pointed out.

"I don't care. She can yell at us all she wants when we reach her," Magnus answered.

"Quick sidebar," Henry interrupted. "Umm, how exactly am I reaching her?"

"You said you'd been working on something since we got back," Magnus told him.

"Well, yeah—"

"Speed it up," Magnus told him, leaving the room.

"Speed it…" he said incredulously.

"I'll help," I offered, "But you know how well that worked out last time."

"Thanks, Tayla," Henry said. We headed to his lab.

"Any chance you could drop a line to Tesla, see if he can stop by and help? It'd go a lot faster with him," I asked.

"Nope, we have no idea where he is…" Henry said, approaching his computer, "Or what he's doing."

**~~o0o~~**

"H…" Will announced his presence, "Tayla."

"Hey," Henry replied. I nodded hello and then resumed staring at the computer screen.

"How's it going?"

"Oh, yeah, good," Henry replied.

"You don't have to lie, man," Will said.

"Now I know how Marconi felt."

"Can't get the signal there?" Will asked.

"Getting it there is not an issue. Just have to create a modified ultra-low-frequency wave, hijack a little time on the U.S. Navy's Seafarer transmitter, and then boom. However…" Henry crossed around to the the side of the table.

"What's the problem?"

"The city's the problem. If you'll recall, it's surrounded by massive lodestone deposits which effectively make it impossible for an EM transmission to go in either direction, so in order to punch through that, I have to find a high frequency wave, somewhere in the region of 150 to 200 exahertz."

"So, low to get there, high to get in," Will caught on.

"Yep. Oh, man," Henry sighed, "Forehead, meet brick wall."

"Henry!" Magnus called. "Oh Tayla, there you are. I've been looking all over for you."

"Yeah?" Henry asked.

"I need you to gear up the van. We've just had a report of a terrakopolus on the loose in Trench Park," she answered, "Tayla, suit up with Kate."

"Okay, I'm on it. Listen, dude, I'm going to jump back on this when we're done, okay? It's gonna take some time for the data to compile anyway, so, uh, just hang in there," Henry was saying as I left. I met Kate in the armory. Together we suited up and met Magnus at the garage.

**~~o0o~~**

"You should have seen that thing!" Kate exploded.

"It was huge!" I agreed, gesturing with my arms.

"It had scared everyone away at Trench Park," Henry said.

"It roars at us, this big, huge, loud—" Kate began.

"We're staring right down its maw, you know—" Henry cut her off.

"We shoot it like twenty times with the new stunners—" I said.

"It shakes 'em all off, just like that!"

"We turn to regular bullets—"

"It shrieks and runs off—"

"So we chase it down an alley, right, we got this thing cornered, okay—" Henry tells Will.

"—and it starts to freak out because it's got nowhere else to go, right? And then all of a sudden—" Kate said.

"—it splits into two! Right there in front of us!" Henry told him.

"I was going to tell them that!"

"Yeah, but you can tell them the other thing," Henry placated her.

"Okay, so all of a sudden, we're fighting this thing on two ends, right, because there's me on one side, there's Hank on the other side—" Kate mimes punching it, "Tayla's completely gone; we've no idea where she and Magnus are—"

"Yeah, and it's ugly, I mean, it's so ugly—"

"And we're tiring out, you know, but we still keep—"

"This thing is roarin' at us, we think we're done for—"

"And Tayla and the Doc jump right down on it, land right on its back—"

"—from the roof of the building above!" Henry exclaimed, "They shoot it once at the back of each of the necks with their stunners—"

"And boom, that thing is out!" Kate finished.

**~~o0o~~**

"Okay," Henry told her from his seat at the computer in her office, "I came up with an algorithm to modulate the transmission between the upper and lower ends of the EM spectrum. The tricky part was encoding a binary message that could just—"

"Okay, all right, yeah. What do we do?" Magnus asked.

"You just type your message into here. Um, I've taken the liberty of composing one already, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, good," Magnus praised him.

"Okay, so, uh, well, we just hit 'send'."

"And now…?"

"And now we wait. Once they get the message, they're going to have to decode it, get it into Ranna's hands, then find a way to transmit it back, providing they get our message at all, or choose to reply."

"Well, I don't think Ranna would ignore a direct request like this."

"Well, either way, it's going to take a little bit of time."

"All right," Magnus said, starting to leave. The computer beeped. A message bubble popped up.

"What the..? This is them. They're writing back," Henry said wonderingly.

"Can you translate?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah." 'No cure for cillobar infection. High risk for further exposure. Terminate subject immediately'?"

"Write them back; tell them it's Will's who's infected," Magnus said urgently.

"Subject is Will. Please advise," Henry said as he typed the new message. He hit send again.

"Did we lose them?" Magnus asked after a second.

"No. Getting a lot of interference, though." A message bubble popped up. "Ah, here we go. 'Forbidden communication under Senate authority. Kill subject immediately'." Henry looked up at Magnus again. Now what were we going to do?

**~~o0o~~**

I was in Magnus's office again a few hours later. Henry was just coming in. "It's a message from Ranna," Henry said, looking at his tablet.

"I thought you said you informed her about Will," Magnus said.

"Yeah, I did, but this one's different," he handed it to her. "Il fait chaud à Suez."

"It's hot in the Suez," Magnus translated.

"Yeah. What the hell does that mean?" Henry asked.

"This," Magnus began, "was an encoded message broadcast on BBC Radio just prior to the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. It was meant to signal the French resistance to prepare for D-day."

"So why is she sending it to you now?" Henry asked, "What's she trying to warn us of?"

"I have no idea."

**~~o0o~~**

Kate's shouts woke me during the night. "Help! Someone! Help!" I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall, meeting Magnus outside of Will's room. We carried him to the infirmary. He was grunting, writhing, and struggling the whole while. Henry met us there. Magnus and I set him in the bed.

"It's okay, it's okay. You're all right. Will…you've lost the ability to speak. Your vocal cords must have fused during the transformation. We'll figure out what all this means in the morning, all right? In the meantime, I'm going to give you something to help you sleep." She injected him with a sedative.

"I'll stay with him," Kate offered. Henry and I nodded. Will no longer bore any resemblance to Will anymore. He was shorter and entirely covered in scales. His head jutted out from his neck at an odd angle, and his hands and feet were gnarled and clawed.

"Thank you," Magnus said, "Let me know when he wakes up."

**~~o0o~~**

The security alarm went off around five thirty in the morning, three hours after Will discovered he could no longer speak. The Big Guy rushed into the lab, shoving Will away from Kate, who was holding her arm, which was streaked with bright red blood. "Down! Stay down! Relax!" the Big Guy roared at Will, pinning him.

"Are you okay?" I asked Kate. Magnus came running in as well, grabbing a ready syringe from the table. She injected him and he thrashed for a few more seconds before going still. I washed out Kate's cut, as Magnus was busy dealing with putting Will in a habitat, and wrapped it up. It was neither wide nor deep, but bled profusely. Magnus and the Big Guy exchanged a long look. Magnus nodded and they lifted Will up. Kate and I followed them. The Big Guy and Magnus set Will down in his new cell and locked him in. For the first time, it hit me that Will's transformation wasn't like Henry's or mine. He couldn't control it, and it wasn't benign. Not that ours was completely, but… Will was going to die in the worst way possible: as something other than himself.

"This is for your own safety, Will," Magnus said as he stirred, "I hope you can understand that." Magnus turned and left the room, heading back to her lab. All of us knew the time for goodbyes was now. Henry stepped up first.

"It's going to be okay, dude. We're going to figure this out. You just hang in there," Henry said through the glass. Then he stepped away from the enclosure and he too left. The Big Guy approached and placed his hand on the glass. Unable to say anything, he retreated and followed Magnus. Kate walked up and shook her head. She turned and left, too sad and not trusting her herself to speak. I stepped up to the glass, avoiding Will's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Will," I said softly, "I wish…I wish I had gone to Hollow Earth instead of you."

**~~o0o~~**

"Hey, what are you doing?" Henry asked. We were setting Will's office back in order. Aeya was quietly sitting on a stack of papers. The only emotion I could sense from her was sorrow—one that was not usually part of her nature.

"Just filing a few things. I wanted it to look nice in case…" she didn't finish her sentence. I expected him to tell us how Will wasn't dead, but he only said, "You want some help?"

"Yeah," Kate replied, looking down onto the desk. Henry lifted a box and set it on the couch to go through as I resumed straightening the bookshelf. Henry opened the box.

"You know I haven't lost anyone since my father died? I mean, guys I used to run with, but nobody…nobody close," Kate said suddenly. Henry picked up the baseball from the stand on the desk and ran his hands over it.

"Will's not dead," he told her.

"I don't really know how to deal with this," she said.

He set the baseball back down and looked back at her. "You just do," Henry replied. We finished soon enough after that. Henry and I wandered down to his lab. Above, Magnus was arguing with the Big Guy. Something about her not having slept in days. I didn't want to listen, but it was hard to block it out. Sensitive hearing was both a blessing and a curse. I could hear things that others couldn't, but I was also privy to things, _secrets_, in the Sanctuary that were private. Once I learned them, I couldn't forget them. To know a person's deepest, darkest secret was hard to bear, especially when you started to notice the things they did, how they acted and thought, all stemmed from that one experience. And you always wanted to sympathize with that person, but you always have to clamp your mouth shut, for if they know you know, they'll hate you forever. If I got to give one of my gifts to someone, it would not be the hearing. There was too much pain and secrecy bundled with that package. I cringed as their argument took a particularly bad turn.

"You're in denial," the Big Guy was telling her.

"Why?" she asked, "Because I'm not huddled in a corner somewhere wailing aw—" She stopped, realizing what she was saying. "I need to work," she said, her voice forcibly calm and controlled. "You know this."

"Will is gone," the Big Guy told her.

"Leave me alone," he voice was colder.

"Stop putting on a show!" the Big Guy said.

"How dare you—!" she shouted. Henry glanced up at the ceiling and shook his head. "What did you just say?"

"We are, all of us, in pain," the Big Guy said.

"No, no," Magnus said, "You—you just said, 'stop putting on a show'."

"Yes," the Big Guy answered.

"Of course. Of course—" My eyes widened. I'd heard her use that tone before. One day. With an ozone beetle stuck in her head and telepaths claiming she'd killed the Big Guy. My brain was on full red-alert. _No_, I thought. _She can't be destabilized by this_. "—she would do something like that. Come on!" I relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there, I really thought she had touched a bit of insanity. She ran into the lab, startling Henry.

"Henry! Can you pull up that message that Ranna sent?" she asked.

"The one about killing the subject or the one about D-day?" I asked.

"Kill subject," she replied.

"Okay. Uh…" he loaded the message. _Forbidden communication under_ Senate Authority. Kill subject immediately. _

"Is that the whole thing?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked, looking up at her.

"There's an underscore here at the end of the first sentence. Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe she's a bad typist."

"She typed it in cuneiform. Clearly this was intentional. I think she's trying to tell us something," Magnus said.

"Forbidden communication under. You don't think…?"

"Wasn't there some interference when the message came through?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, but I screened it for binary data. We got everything she wrote," Henry answered.

"What if the interference is the message?" Magnus asked.

"Like a sound file?" the Big Guy queried.

"I don't know. Anything she sent would have been scanned by their outgoing data filters. I think the Senate would have caught that."

"Play it for me," Magnus ordered.

"It's just gonna sound like static, so…" He played it.

"Slow it down." She listened and then smiled. "Morse code."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Ranna would have known that the data filters wouldn't be looking for something so primitive. Henry—"

"I'm on it."

"Yup."

**~~o0o~~**

We were in Magnus's office when Henry came in, holding a pad of paper. "Gooban?" Magnus asked.

"That's what it said," Henry replied, shrugging his shoulders. He looked dejected.

"Are you sure?" the Big Guy asked.

"Yeah, I checked it twice," Henry told him.

"I don't believe it, it's in here," Magnus said, "This is the data Tesla collected from the holographic map."

"What does it mean?" the Big Guy asked.

"Well, apparently he was a botanist of some note over 600 years ago. He resurrected an extinct species of mushroom that now bears his name."

"Gooban," Henry said.

"The Gooban mushroom," I said, "Sounds poisonous."

"What does this have to do with Will?" the Big Guy asked.

"Oh, my God. It might actually work, if we hurry. Find Kate and get Will. Sedate him and bring him to my lab. You're with me," she said to the Big Guy. Magnus, the Big Guy and Henry left and I examined the file. This was what Magnus was going to try? If this worked, it'd be a miracle. First off, she'd need an untainted sample of Will's DNA. Then she'd have to inject Will's DNA into the spores and get them to reverse the process. This was crazy. I pushed the chair in and started for Magnus's lab.

"It's working. The cells are starting to revert back to their original state. Where the hell are Henry and Kate?" Magnus asked as I walked in. Suddenly, the sirens went off. I looked up.

"Perimeter sensors!" she exclaimed, peeling off her gloves. We ran down to Will's cell and made a loop around it the the adjacent one, seeing the gaping hole in the wall. Magnus rushed over to Henry, who was just standing up. "What happened?"

"Sorry, he caught us by surprise," Henry said in answer.

"Where is he now?" Kate asked.

"Gone," Magnus answered.

**~~o0o~~**

Though the Big Guy was sending the van hurtling down the street, none of us felt we were going fast enough. "All right, so as you can see, we have our two sightings here. Support teams are in position, 10-block radius," Henry explained, gesturing to the monitor.

"Good. We have a chance of containing him at least," Magnus said.

"What about the treatment?" the Big Guy asked from the front seat.

"Four doses each, mixed with a powerful sedative," Magnus opened the case.

"How sure are you about this stuff?" Kate asked as Magnus passed one to each of us.

"Well, we've never tested it, so…you all have to be prepared if it doesn't work," she answered.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"She means we may need to use lethal force," Kate replied.

"What?" Henry asked, alarmed.

"We can't risk further contamination. We've no idea of the life cycle of this creature. If it reaches maturity, it could release its spores at any time. All of us need to be willing to do whatever's necessary. If not, you can recuse yourself now, no questions asked," Magnus told us. Kate glanced at me and the Big Guy.

"We're good," she replied.

"Henry?" Magnus prompted.

"Yeah." We combed the lower alley as soon as we got out of the van, but there was no sign of him. Magnus split off to search a warehouse. We were pawing past bins of rubbish when we heard the shot. We ran towards the warehouse Magnus had entered, only to find her kneeling beside an unconscious Will, a medicine thingie in his neck. It looked like he'd stabbed him herself in close combat instead of using the gun.

"Is he out?" Kate asked.

"We have to get him back to the Sanctuary right away," Magnus answered.

**~~o0o~~**

About a half week later, Will had fully recovered. Magnus's Gooban cure had worked, and I was perusing the library. Just then, a familiar name caught my eye. It was marked _Foss _at the end of the spine. Knowing that was Henry's last name, I pulled it out, expecting it to have been written by one of his ancestors, since I really couldn't see Henry writing a book. Unless it was in binary code. I looked at the front cover and at the title: _Death, Decapitation, and Dementia: Your Complete Guide to Life at the Sanctuary_. I laughed, reading down. It was the 5th Edition if the book, which was odd. Why would it need editions? At the bottom, printed in medium-sized letters, was the author's name. Henry Foss. Well, well, well. Henry was full of surprises. I opened the book to find the first entry. The page read:

Never run down the hallway (even when you're a little kid) wearing a Superman cape. You'll break an urn.

Always brew coffee for someone else.

Grinning, I flipped through the book. It was an approximately 250 pg book, but at least half of it was already filled with Henry's neat handwriting, unlike his usual hasty scribble. I flipped to the back and found the newest entry, scribbled in pencil: _When you break something, hide it from view and delete the security camera footage with somebody else's login._ I laughed, remembering his incident with the glovefish aquarium. It had only been a few days ago, but it felt like years. So much had happened since then. I set the book exactly where I'd found it, not wanting Henry to know I'd seen it. I wanted to read more of what he wrote, but there were footsteps coming down the hallway. I moved on to the "G" section and started browsing again.

**Yes, I know it wasn't the best chapter I've ever written…but I promise, Wingman and Awakening will be better. Especially Awakening. :)**** Thanks for reading!**


	24. Wingman: Double Date  For Them

**Yes, it's shorter than usual, I know. Scratch that. Waayyyy shorter. Sorry. Anyway, happy Winter Break everyone!**

**TV-PG**

Previously on Sanctuary…  
>ABBY: Abby Corrigan. We trained together at Quantico? Partnered in that forensic exercise on bone fragmentation?<br>WILL: A-Abby. What are you doing here?  
>ABBY: I work in behavior analysis now. Serial killers, stuff like that.<br>TAYLA: The woman was tall with straight brown hair that fell past her shoulders. She looked around shyly.  
>HENRY: This is Erika.<br>MAGNUS: You met her in England?  
>HENRY: Yeah. I am not alone, Doc.<p>

**Chapter 24: Wingman – Double Date…For Them**

"Ah, I'm glad I caught you," Magnus said, walking up to their group. "Evening ladies." I followed her into the foyer. Will and Henry looked nice, like they were going to a fancy restaurant. Erica and Abby wore nice clothing too. I had almost forgotten. Will had told Magnus that he was taking Abby out on a date tonight, and Henry had been taking Erica places all week before she returned to London tonight.

"You're glad you caught us because…?" Henry asked warily.

"I need you to transport a lepidoptera larva," she said, looking around at them all.

"Uh, we're going out for dinner, so—" Will began.

"Works out perfectly, then," she cut in, smiling, "The four of you can take the van."

"You want us to haul a…slug?" Abby asked.

"Actually, it's more of a vertebrate creature," Magnus told her, like that made everything okay, "Lepidoptera hominin."

"Some sort of humanoid insect?" Erica asked.

"Yes, but it's in stasis right now," Magnus assured them, "All I need you to do is pick up a small crate and drop it off at the docks. You'll be done in half an hour."

"I don't suppose…" Will shrugged, "Kate or Biggie…"

"Staking out a red list dealer across town," Magnus answered.

"Ooh! How about you?" Henry suggested.

"I have a diprotodon who's about to go into labor," she replied, "Unless you'd like to stay and monitor his cervix?"

"No!" Henry and Will said together.

"Thought not," Magnus said, holding out the keys. Will took them and Magnus smiled at the group before ushering them out the , my ears chose to follow them out the door and into the van. Sometimes I thought they had a mind of their own. Until they got too out-of-range, I could hear their conversation.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have stayed behind to help Magnus?" Abby asked.

"Oh, you would not be asking that if you'd ever been covered in diprotodon placenta," Henry told her.

"Unpleasant, is it?" Erica asked, her accent giving her words a pleasing lilt.

"It's life-altering," Will said.

"Well, that's what I'm saying. Is she okay by herself?" Abby asked.

"Who, Helen Magnus?" Henry asked.

"There's no way the whatever-it-is could get violent," Erica said.

"Oh, there's _every_ chance, especially during childbirth," Will assured her.

"And we just left her there to deal with it on her own?" Abby asked.

"Yeah," Will and Henry said together.

"Tayla's there too," Henry reminded them.

"She's a teenage girl," Abby pointed out.

"So?" Will said, "I know you guys are a little new to the sandbox, but one thing you should know about Helen Magnus—she can take care of herself. And Tayla isn't as innocuous as she seems either." I had totally forgotten neither Abby nor Erica knew I was a vampire.

I missed the next part of their conversation as Magnus interrupted, "Tayla?"

"Yeah," I said, snapping back to attention.

"Call up Declan for me; tell him that he'll have his female diprotodon back within the month."

"Okay," I agreed.

"And then this, filled with sedative?" She passed me a syringe.

"Got it." She headed back down to the lower levels to help the birthing of the diprotodon. In the infirmary, I filled the syringe with a mild sedative and called Declan. He sounded pleased that the rare diprotoda had successfully mated.

"Tell Magnus there's no rush," he told me, "She has as long as she needs."

"The female won't be needed much longer," I assured him, "The she's likely to attack her mate's babies if kept too long near them."

"All right," he agreed. I headed back up a level, carrying the syringe.

**~~o0o~~**

Luckily for us, Magnus had had time to move the male diprotodon to a birthing room before it all started. Last time, however…well, let's just say it wasn't pretty and had taken almost an entire week to clean up. I had delivered to her the sedative and she ended up not having to need my help with the birthing after all. It had only torn out half the wall instead of the whole thing this time with its massive horns. The male diprotodon was resting with his four healthy babies. Yes, the diprotoda were one of those species in which the male gave birth, not the female. Believe it or not, it wasn't the only one. As we were coming out of the birthing room, Magnus's cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and looked down at it.

"It's Will," she said, surprised. She held it up to her ear. "Will?" I could hear Will's voice easily on the other end as we started to go up the stairs.

"Yeah, Magnus, it's me. We have a problem with the lepidoptera. In short, it's not larval anymore. We think Ernie might not have adhered to all the protocols…and poof, suddenly its emitting gas—which Abby is apparently allergic to—and it bursts out of the back end of the van and down into the sewers," Will told her as she picked a file folder off her desk.

"Damn that Ernie," Magnus said as we exited her office and turned around the corner. "The lepidoptera can only be transported during the early larval stages, he knows that.

"Well, he did say something about a faulty cryo-chamber," Will offered.

"Yeah, so he put bug boy in a fridge," Henry said faintly on the other end.

"I beg your pardon?" Magnus asked.

"What Henry _means_ is that we were…transporting the abnormal in an alternative…temperature-controlled container," Will explained.

"A refrigerator!" Magnus asked angrily.

"Well, yes, I believe it's also known by that name—"

"Because you were in a rush to get on with your evening," Magnus said angrily.

"Well, it was just a few minutes from the docks. What's going to happen?" Henry pointed out.

"You do realize that question has now ceased to be rhetorical?" she said.

"Yes, I do now," Henry tried to placate her.

"Well, at least the creature can't have gone far. After its final molt, the wings still need to mature, but you'll have to capture it before it becomes fully mobile," Magnus said, her anger seeming to subside a little.

"Or else?" Henry asked.

"If it becomes strong enough to fly, there'll be no containing it," Magnus told them, "Now, are either of you boys eager to do damage control on civilian sightings of a flying moth man?"

"Not so much," Will answered quickly.

"Uh-uh," Henry said.

"How much time do we have?" Will asked sensibly.

"Half an hour, forty-five minutes, tops," Magnus replied, hitting the elevator button.

"Okay," Henry agreed, "Well, at least the stunners in the van are fully charged."

"No stunners," Magnus ordered, "The lepidoptera's still a fledgling. You might damage its neural development."

"Well, how are we supposed to—?" Will asked as we stepped in the elevator.

"Tranqs if need be, only at close range, not near the head. Now, get going, and keep me informed." She hit the end call button on the phone harder than was necessary as the doors closed.

"A refrigerator?" she asked me, "Are they really that naïve?"

"They just wanted to get to Alfredo's," I told her. At the name of the restaurant, her face visibly darkened. "What's wrong?"

"You realize what's going to happen tonight, with Henry and Erica?" she asked.

"…No."

"He must not have told everyone what he's planning," she said.

"He's going to ask her to marry him," I replied.

"How did you know?"

I looked apologetic. "I overheard him telling you. I overhear a lot of things."

She sighed. "Erica has plans of her own."

"What do you mean?" I asked. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

"She's going to ask him to go back with her to London." We stepped out.

"But…he's not going to agree, right?"

"No. But he will be very, very disappointed."

"And…you want to cheer him up," I said, nodding. "How?"

"First," she picked up the phone and dialed it.

"Saluti," said the man on the other end. "You have reached Alfredo's Restaurant at 7140 Grande Way. How may we be of service?"

"I wish to check that my reservation has been cancelled," she replied. "Helen Magnus, back room?"

"We don't take reservations," the guy replied in a thick Italian accent.  
>"Just do it," Magnus ordered.<p>

"Un momento per favore," he murmured. There was a pause. "Indeed, your reservation has been cancelled, madam."

"Thank you, goodnight," she hung up the phone. She turned to me. "Now, we go to Alfredo's to pick up some food ourselves."

**Okay, so here's the deal. Awakening is already finished. I'll post it as soon as I get 2 reviews. 2, for any chapter. Even if you didn't like this chapter as much, go back and review a different one. Two reviews. Come on guys, it will take all of thirty seconds. Review!**


	25. One Sanguine Vampiris Is Enough

**Thank you for your review, FORD B. The rest of you... :( **

**But anyway, vampire time!**

**TV-14 LV**

**Chapter 25: Awakening – One Sanguine Vampiris is Enough**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_TESLA: Well, I hope you're all happy now. I'm ordinary._

_MAGNUS: There's simply no way to re-vamp you._

_LÍA: The Source Blood, what we were made from, is the blood of a vampire. The Cabal spent months devising this serum from the ancient texts they'd collected that were the notes of the scientist Icirus. He was trying to create himself an army that was superior to regular vampires. Icirus named his new race of warriors Sanguine Vampirisa, but kept the name akhkharu for them. He bred them until he had a small army._

Magnus, Nikola, and I had, just the day before, been having a normal day. Or as normal as it ever got in the Sanctuary. Will in charge of the Sanctuary until Magnus got back, Henry was out of town, Kate and the Big Guy were just hanging out, and Magnus, Nikola, and I were researching our separate projects. It was then that Magnus found the clue she was looking for. In the log of an Egyptian archaeologist, she had found notes of odd symbols carved in rock. Praxian symbols. So here I was, in the middle of a desert in Egypt, with another vampire and the greatest researcher of all time, Helen Magnus. We all wore vampire bracelets. Nikola and Magnus were in the middle of a conversation about King Tut's tomb, although what that had to do with early Praxians, I had no idea. I ran my fingers lightly over the cool wall, grateful to be sheltered from the raging desert outside.

"Hello," Nikola said, jerking me from my thoughts.

"Dead end?" Magnus asked, coming over to look.

"Hmm…" he muttered, "I can feel there's power being drawn off behind here." He looked at the blank rock face. "No wiring," he said.

"A doorway?" Magnus suggested.

"Yeah, possibly," he answered, shining his flashlight around, "I could disengage the locking mechanism with a magnetic pulse."

"You're confident of that?" she asked. He looked at her, making her laugh slightly, and then he turned back to the door.

"Remember this moment, Helen. We're about to make history. Again," he said. The sound of rock rubbing against rock permeated the cavern, and the door started to slide aside, revealing a room with many pedestals filled with script. Nikola of course, walked right in, while Magnus and I waited more cautiously by the doorway. The lights went on as he entered. He turned off his flashlight and approached one of the pedestals.

"Oh my God, look at this," he breathed. He flipped his pack off his back and tossed away his flashlight with it. "It's the ancient script of the Sanguine Vampiris."

"Vampires?" Magnus asked, "According to the map this was a Praxian stronghold."

"Not anymore," Nikola said, reaching out to touch the symbols, "It says here that my ancestors drove them from this place, made it a fortress of their own…"

"Nikola wait," Magnus said, "If this was a vampire strong then they must have fortifications. The vampire shield, take off your bracelet!" She pulled hers off, and I did too. Nikola turned around to face us.

"Bracelet? I prefer to think of it as a—" he began. A laser beam came out from the wall, hitting him in the chest and going right through him like butter. He sank to the floor, a hand on his wound.

"Nikola!" Magnus ran forward, dropping her bag as she went, "Damn it!" I followed her into the room, and the stone door shut ominously behind us. Nikola pulled dragged himself over to a pedestal, and sat there, leaning on, one hand still covering his wound. "Stay still," Magnus said, pulling out a medical pouch.

"What hit me?" he asked.

"Some sort of energy beam," Magnus answered. I looked around the cave, searching for another means of escape. Nothing. We were locked in. "This room must be protected by vampire technology," Magnus continued, pulling open the pouch.

"The Source Blood shield hid my vampire DNA," Nikola said.

"It perceived you as being an ordinary human," Magnus said.

"Oh that hurts," he said looking at her. It was well known around the Sanctuary that Nikola hated the words 'mortal,' 'human,' and 'ordinary,' and considered them foul language.

After taking his bracelet off, she asked him, "Alright, how bad is it? Come on, let me see."

"Not a good idea. The only thing keeping my insides from spreading out across the floor is the magnetic field I'm generating to hold them in," he told her with a sarcastic smile.

"Dear Lord," she said looking at him seriously, and then at the wound. "All right, stay calm." She got up and went over to the blank stretch of wall that was once our door. She pushed against it, trying to move it, but with no avail. Nikola lifted his hand and looked at it, and let out a sound of disgust.

"You know the thing about traps is that they're meant to be escape proof," Nikola pointed out, "Particularly when they're designed by vampires."

"Well, there has to be some other way out of here, Magnus said, fierce determination evident on her face. In desperation, she crossed over to one of the pedestals and scanned the text. She turned back to him.

"How long can you hold on?" she asked.

"For the rest of my life," he answered. That jolted me. He knew, as soon as he let go, he'd be dead. The shocked look on Magnus's face didn't last long. After a final sweep of the room, she came over to us.

"Your pulse is thin," she said, "You're losing blood into the cavity around the wound."

"If you cut me, do I not bleed," Nikola said.

"Oh please, no Shakespeare," Magnus said.

"Do you remember the leaves of autumn, that time we met in Oxford?" he asked, staring dreamily, "And that crimson dress you were wearing?"

"You need to stay focused, your body's going into shock," Magnus told him, "First you'll feel cold, and then you'll want to sleep."

"Yes," Nikola eyes were closed as he nodded.

"You can't give in to it," she said, "You have to keep that magnetic field going. Any more blood loss, and…"

"A sensible person would have worn black. You know, to fit in," Nikola rambled on, "But not Helen Magnus, oh no."

"Nikola!" Magnus cried. She pulled a syringe and shot it into his leg.

"Holy Mother of…" Nikola jumped and started.

"You need to stay awake," Magnus said forcefully.

"There are other ways of getting my attention; I never knew you could be so cruel," he said.

"I'm trying to keep you alive!" Magnus said.

"Why? I have a hole through my vital organs and we're miles away from surgical facilities," he said, "You…are in…denial."

"If I could recalibrate a stunner, to cortilize the arterial damage—"

"Then you'd buy me a slow agonizing death instead of a decent one," Nikola said, "Even I don't deserve that."

"We need to keep the blood circulating while we figure this out," Magnus said.

"Helen! You're going to have to find another date to the prom." Magnus stared at him for a second, before rifling through her medical pouch again.

"You had to rush in, didn't you? You couldn't have waited ten seconds scan for weapons?"

"When have you ever known me to put common sense ahead of intellectual curiosity?' he asked.

She sighed. "There's only one shot of epi left.'

"You wouldn't happen to have any morphine in there instead?"

"If I gave you an analgesic, it would suppress your respiration; you'd just—go to sleep."

"In your arms," he said. Nikola being Nikola, I shouldn't have expected him to change, even on his deathbed.

"And bleed out, instantly."

"Also true."

"Is that really what you want?" Magnus asked.

"No. Tempting as it may sound, I have a different final request." We both stared at him.

"It's not what you think," he said, "Read to me."

"You serious?" Magnus asked.

"Helen, we're surrounded by the greatest trove of vampire knowledge the world has ever seen, and it's killing me. I'm being robbed of my last great discovery. I spent my life trying to piece together my ancestry. Come on. Read." Magnus stood up and went over to one of the pedestals.

"The armies of the third great kingdom gathered. Our enemies recruited unnatural creatures of land and sea and air, marred by fin and fur and scales." She turned to Nikola. "They must be referring to abnormals. It looks like they fought side by side with the early Praxians. And then when the Praxians retreated into Hollow Earth—"

"Those abnormals went with them," Nikola finished.

"Exactly. It would explain why some of their species are so similar to our own."

"You're welcome," Nikola said. She moved on to the next pedestal.

"The weak who remained stayed to serve. Ah, that Golden Age of Vampires of which you're so fond. The Age of Human Slavery," she read before looking over at him, "Nikola!"

"Keep…reading" he said through clenched teeth.

"The warrior queen Afina and her court were laid to rest in state to rise again in the afterlife…no, that's not quite right. Kianaru."

"After time," Nikola and I said together.

"After time," Magnus muttered, and then resumed reading, "to rule into eternity."

"I like the sound of that. Maybe I'll meet her on the other side," Nikola commented.

"Wait a second," Magnus said, pointing to a character on the pedestal, "laid to rest…there's another character. Laid to rest…here!" She looked at him. Then she began feeling the pedestal, searching for a button. At the bottom, she must have pressed something and there was a small click, and the rock wall on another side of the chamber sank into the floor. Behind it, encased in a purple crystal, was Afina, queen of the vampires.

"Good heavens," Magnus exclaimed reverently. She looked at Nikola, who was also staring at the queen in awe.

"It's the queen of the vampires," he breathed.

"Just think Nikola. We're the first people to see this tomb for thousands of years."

I approached the crystal, and looked deep into its depth, marveling at the quality of the gem.

"Vampire-made," I said, "Nothing exists now that even comes close to this." Before either of us could stop him, he pulled out the last epi and injected himself with it.

"Nikola, no! What are you doing?" Magnus cried. We rushed over and stood by him. "Are you out of your mind?" she asked.

"I'm not missing out on this. Come on, help me up," he said. Together, Magnus and I helped supported him across the room to sit on a ledge by the crystal. His bloody hand smudged the rock with his blood as he lowered himself into the seat.

"Look at her," he breathed, "perfectly preserved. Like an insect in amber."

"They must have mastered crystal replication on an atomic level," Magnus said.

"Well don't sound so surprised, these are vampires we're talking about after all. Every advance we've seen in our lifetimes, nothing but a pathetic attempt to recreate what my race achieved, before the humans even left the caves. Just leave me here among vampire royalty: my only peers."

"I have a better idea," Magnus said. She opened her bag and pulled out a stunner. I took out a hand gun.

"Move aside."

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"If there is even an ounce of fluid left in that corpse," she began, "a few cells of unaltered DNA…"

"Helen, I'm shocked," Nikola said, "Are you offering to revamp me?"

"If you get the hell out of my way I am."

"I have never been more attracted to you than I am at this moment," he said as he moved aside. She shot three times, but it had little effect on the crystal.

"Bloody hell! What is this thing made of?" I approached and examined the crystalline structure and shook my head. I aimed my hand gun from about five feet away and shot the crystal. The bullets shattered on contact, the ones hitting me being absorbed by my skin. It tired me, but not by much.

"You need something stronger," Nikola said.

"On Praxis," Magnus told us, going back to her bag and rifling in it to pull out another weapon, "I used a laser scalpel to cut through the hide of an Earth-moving abnormal. That's the same principle; I just need to focus the beam—"

"No, no, no, no, you'll overload the condenser."

"Do you have a better idea?" She opened the top off the weapon and pulled out a tool.

"Unprotected platinum coils? Wolf-boy. Have a word with him about power efficiency."

"I doubt Henry planned on this kind of repurposing."

"That's no excuse," Nikola said. Even though he was dying, I shot him an annoyed look. Hey, I'm not perfect. "Secure the oscillator or you'll get vibration."

"Yeah, I got it, thank you!" Magnus said in that English accent of hers.

"Yeah well, get this wrong and you might as well pull the pin on a radiation grenade."

"Which is starting to sound more and more attractive." Magnus said.

"Let her work," I told Nikola before firing another few bullets at the crystal in annoyance. She recapped the weapon and shut it.

"Alright," she said, "ready or not, it's time for a field test." She aimed the weapon at the crystal and shot a blue laser at it. She kept at it until she dropped the burning hot weapon out of pain. "Ah! Damn, it's overheating!"

"I'd…I'd say I told you so, but it wouldn't give me much satisfaction at this point," Nikola said, starting to slump over. She walked up to the crystal and examined the hole she'd made. "How deep?" Nikola asked.

"A few millimeters," Magnus said. He looked down at his bloody hand and let out a small cry of pain. He fell over, and I went to support him, but decided it was better to leave him lying down; it would take less of his strength.

"Don't you dare! This is not over!" Magnus shouted. She pulled a bag over and propped the weapon up on it so she wouldn't have to touch it. The laser shot out at the crystal again, and continued until a couple of burst of sparks and clouds of smoke came up from the weapon and it blinked out, leaving the acrid scent of melting metal that made my eyes water and my nose sting.

"It's not deep enough," Magnus said, "Can we pull out the explosive core and pack this borehole?"

"Ah…" Nikola grunted in pain as he fell over more.

"Nikola, no!" Magnus cried.

"Oh, come on!" She hefted a heavy rock and slammed it against the crystal. I picked up another and we exchanged blows on the crystal. Before our eyes, the crystal started to break. Magnus hurried and got a syringe and carefully put it through the shards of crystal. She took out a little blood from the Afina, and went back to Nikola. She leaned over him and shot it into his arm. For a scary moment, nothing happened. Then he jerked, turning into a full vampire again. The wound on his chest healed instantly, and he sat up.

"I'm back baby," he said in the deeper voice of a vampire, "and it feels good!"

I took a look around the cavern while Magnus and Nikola talked. I didn't find anything of use, like a hidden escape hatch. When I rejoined them, they were pressing buttons on a wall. Suddenly I stopped and turned around. There was an odd cracking noise. The crystal was cracking. It was then that I realized this wasn't Afina's tomb. She was alive! They walked up to it and stood there arguing about whether she should call in a proper team. I stared into the crystal, and found an irresistible urge to touch it before it all disintegrated. Nikola and I touched it at the same time. The crystal felt cold and hard when I touched it. Moments later, it fell away, revealing Afina, still standing perfectly still.

"Did you do that or did I?" I asked Nikola.

"I did," he said.

"How do you know?" I challenged.

"Honestly, sometimes you two act like adolescents!" Magnus said, rolling her eyes.

"I am an adolescent!" I protested. Just then, Afina opened her eyes. We guided her down to the place where Nikola had sat when he was injured. Magnus and Nikola kept talking, but Afina just watched us. She sat down, and looked at me, then Magnus, then Nikola, and finally the blood on the stone from his hand. She dabbed it with her finger and lifted it to her mouth.

She was quiet for a minute, and then said, "This…came from you…Nikola." Then of course, Nikola went on and on explaining to Magnus and me how ingenious having blood be like an ID blah blah blah. I was more interested in Afina herself, and how she would react to us. When Nikola was finally done, Afina asked, "Where's my brother?"

"There haven't been vampires on Earth for a very long time," Magnus said.

"But I carry on that legacy," Nikola said.

Motioning to Nikola, she said, "Dormant gene. Activated by exposure to pure vampire blood."

"Helen," Nikola said, "Please. Why do you have to make it sound so clinical? My true nature was reawoken with these dormant genes, and uh my vision, and my genius, my gifts, are all from my ancestors, from you. Practically wasted in this primitive, modern world."

"What about the rest of my people?"

"There's been a shift in power," Magnus said.

"And our beautiful cities? All that we built?"

"Yeah, it's all a little different than what you remember," Nikola confirmed. Afina almost fell over, but Nikola steadied her.

"Thank you," she smiled at him, "If we're the only two left, then I'll have to rely on you."

"It would be my honor," he said, "I have so much to learn from you, and believe me that is not something I would ever say."

"I can attest to that," Magnus said.

"You're not," I said. They all looked at me.

"Sorry, what?" Magnus asked.

"I am one of the vampires of eld."

"What? How did you live?" Afina asked.

"I fought in the battles like all else. When we lost, instead of going to Bhalasaam to hide, I returned to my home island. I was later found by a group of people who called themselves the Cabal. They had weapons that far exceeded any we had in our kingdom, and they took me and wiped my memories. Touching your crystal has brought back that much, but before that I have no recollection."

"You are truly a vampire of eld?" Afina asked.

"I am, your majesty," I said.

"Your majestic beauty," she corrected. "Then you shall be very useful. And what about you? Are you of the kingdom?" she asked, turning to Magnus.

"Well, it's a little complicated," Magnus said. Afina raised an eyebrow. Magnus sighed. "I was injected with the same blood. I gained the gift of longevity. But I cannot transform like you do."

"Then you are no vampire," the warrior queen said distastefully.

First chance we got, Magnus pulled me away to talk confidentially.

"What do you think you're doing!" she hissed.

"Discarding the walls of deception that surrounded me," I answered. She looked at me angrily, either believing my story and mad that I didn't tell her or angry because I was taking a huge risk by deceiving the vampire queen. Completely oblivious to our hissed conversation, Nikola was delightedly learning more vampire history, and Afina was reading the pedestals for him.

"Afina, can you tell us how to get out of here?" Magnus interrupted, but Afina glided past her like she was beneath her notice.

"This security system was designed to protect me from my enemies. Anyone who broke in would be killed instantly and sealed in with me."

"Yes, the Egyptians did the same thing, thousands of years later," Nikola told her.

"How did you set it off, if you are of vampire blood?" she asked.

"Ah, well, that's a story for another day. The question is, how do we get out of here now?" Magnus said quickly.

"There's an escape hatch behind that wall. A human couldn't shift the weight, but one of us could." She regarded me and then turned to Nikola. "If you have the strength? I'm afraid I don't. I need to feed!"

"Nikola and I have devised a regimen of nutrients and animal plasma, gives you everything you need. But that we'll have to wait until we get to the surface," Magnus said.

"Animal plasma," the queen said, looking between Nikola and I, "That's what you eat?"

"Well, it's not as bad as it sounds," Nikola replied. I bowed my head as if ashamed of my conduct.

"It sounds terrible."

"There also used to be a local antelope that I was quite fond of."

"Nikola." Magnus's expression told him she was disgusted.

"Don't worry. We'll figure everything out," Nikola promised, touching Afina's arm.

"That corridor leads to another part of the cavern. Only my most trusted servants knew of it. And now you two." She looked at Nikola and me as if Magnus didn't exist. Did that mean Magnus wasn't going to be around much longer? I had to do something, but I didn't know how I could get Afina to accept Magnus.

"Thank you," Nikola said, completely oblivious to the danger Magnus was in.

"Could you excuse us for just one minute?" Magnus asked, leading Nikola away. I stayed with the vampire queen like a vampire of eld would have. I had to show my allegiance was to her, not them, in order to save Magnus. I could hear them clearly, though, and I had a sinking feeling that Afina could too.

"I don't like this. We have no idea where that tunnel leads," Magnus said.

"Why would she lie to us?" Nikola asked.

"The woman is used to ruling over a population of serfs! You don't think she's working her own agenda?"

"Look. If she was actually bent on world domination, why would she complicate our trip out of here?"

"You're assuming all of us are going!" Magnus said, "Are you familiar with the fox and the chicken parable?"

"I am," he said, "Which are you in this story, the chicken or the fox?"

"The farmer," Magnus said, "I don't feel safe letting her go first, and I certainly don't feel safe leaving her behind!"

"You have a Sasquatch for a butler and you travel the world with history's most notorious murderer and _now_ you don't feel safe? Helen, green is not a good color on you."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"She's intelligent, powerful, remarkably well preserved for her age...everything I look for in a woman. And unlike someone else I know, she's actually interested in me!"

"I'm not engaging in this childish conversation," Magnus said.

"The more you deny it the truer it is," Nikola said.

"That's an excellent scientific—"

"Thank you." She grabbed his arms and shook him.

"Really good—!"

"I can hear you," Afina said, appearing next to them in the blink of an eye. "Vampire, remember? You need to learn to trust me."

"And if I don't," Magnus challenged.

"That's when bad things start to happen." She grabbed Magnus in full vampire mode and slammed her backward against one of the pillars.

"Afina!" Nikola called. She turned to him and grabbed his wrists, forcing him to his knees. She bit his arm, drinking his blood.

"What are you doing?" Nikola asked frantically. The warrior queen finished and pushed him backward into the cavern below, the "escape route" she wanted us to take. Magnus got up behind her, and Afina cried, "Changing the rules!" She turned to us. "Welcome to the New Age." I inclined my head as Magnus stood there, shocked. "Follow me," the queen hissed.

"Nikola!" Magnus shouted futilely.

"Don't worry, he won't be disturbing us. That old trap was designed for a true vampire, a warrior, not a schoolboy."

"Why did you do that?" Magnus asked.

"When I repopulate my species, I plan to do much better than a mixed blood mongrel." She moved as fast as lightning, one hand over Magnus's throat, pushing her up against the wall.

"You though, will be quite useful."

"How? I'm less vampire than he is."

"Exactly. A blood donor that stays young and fresh forever...but without the bitter aftertaste."

"I hope you choke on it!" Magnus replied. Still pinning Magnus, she said, "And you. You shall join my court." I said nothing, but she released Magnus anyway and continued down the hallway.

After several twisting passageways and many hissings of the vampire queen, Magnus was still arguing. "You'll never succeed," Magnus told her.

"I already have. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"The entire human race will stand against you."

"You think so? In my experience, the human race never stood together on anything."

"They won't tolerate enslavement, that's for sure."

"You really don't understand your own people, do you? They want to be told what to do. They crave it. They elect leaders for the sole purpose of taking difficult decisions out of their hands. I'm here to offer a different alternative."

"Dictatorship?"

"In exchange for advancement, knowledge, progress."

"We've done just fine on our own."

"Oh yes, you've come so far. And yet I bet you still spend all your time fighting over land, resources, or my favorite: conflicting beliefs. Am I right?" Magnus said nothing. "Aww, it's alright. It's human nature. And that's why I know I'll succeed. I know you better than you know yourselves."

I could faintly hear the sounds of Nikola waking up. I was sure Afina could too, but she made no move to stop and go back.

"Ow. Ow... Oh, that hurts," Nikola's voice murmured faintly, "Ah…how very nice." There was a moment of silence, and then a loud grating sound, like claws on rock. "No, no…That back-stabbing, blood-sucking bitch!"

"There doesn't have to be a war," Magnus told her, "You could come back to the Sanctuary, learn from us, see what we've become."

"And then what, we'll share power equally? Please."

"You won't win. We have weapons that could devastate the entire planet."

"Your loss."

"You'd have nothing left to rule!"

"Then we'll start over." She looked at Magnus. "You're so shocked. It's lovely."

"You'd really destroy the world, just so you could conquer it?"

"Why not, if it's there for the taking? Oh come on, you didn't really think you'd rule forever? For an inferior species, I think you got a pretty good run."

"So did you, before we defeated you."

"That won't happen again."

Magnus looked around. "We're going deeper!"

"Spotted that, did you?"

"I thought we were going to the surface."

"We will. We just have to make a quick stop along the way." We entered another room that looked a lot like the one we were just in, except it had a peculiar device before a solid stone wall. "There's that shocked look again," Afina commented, "You know, I expected more from you Helen. You read the legend. Afina laid to rest to awake kianaru: the time of returning."

"But not just Afina."

"That's right. Afina and her court." She hit a few buttons on the device, and symbols flashed on the screen.

"What is this place?" Magnus asked. The stone wall lifted up, revealing hundreds if not thousands of crystals, each holding a living vampire.

"My court. My warriors. And they'll be very pleased with the blood donor I've brought them. All hope came crashing down in my head. There were too many to defeat with just Magnus and I and maybe Nikola; if he survived the fall. Even weak from hunger, their numbers would overcome us easily. There was nothing I could do. It was over.

"Not as crude as the way you released me," Afina said, "Have I thanked you for that by the way?"

"I could always put you back in," Magnus said as the queen crossed to the other side of the room. Magnus broke a long sharp pole from the underside of the device.

"It's too late for that I'm afraid," Afina gloated, watching her warriors, "These are the first seeds of a new master race." Magnus hefted it as Afina said, "You're lucky to be with us for a first-hand—" Magnus swung the pole at her, knocking her in the face. She slammed against the wall, and Magnus stuck the pole straight through her heart. I ran over and pulled Magnus back as the queen pulled the pole out of her body and pushed Magnus, who went skidding across the floor a full five feet. I was too slow to stop the blow, and besides, I needed the queen to trust me and think I was on her side. The warrior queen morphed into a vampire and said, "You should not have done that." Magnus was on the floor, breathing heavily, watching Afina advance. I didn't know what to do. If I fought Afina for Magnus and lost, we would both be doomed: me for a prison somewhere if not death, her to be the queen's blood supply. On the off chance I won, that would be great, but she was trained in fighting and me—well, not so much. Plus, could I defeat her and figure out how to stop the others from waking? If I remained where I was, Magnus could be killed in the queen's wrath. The indecision tore at me, and by the time I decided to help Magnus, the queen had her pinned. "I would have shared everything with you," Afina said, "All the wonders of a new age."

"While keeping me as your personal canteen," Magnus countered.

"In my days, it was an honor to serve the queen."

"I'll pass," Magnus said.

"Suit yourself," Afina replied, about to strike Magnus. "And you," she growled over her shoulder, "Have you decided to join my court or will you fight me for her?"

"I will join your court and not oppose you," I replied, "on one condition. You leave Magnus and the rest of the Sanctuary Network alone."

"I accept," the queen answered, "but first I'll need the blood to feed my waking warriors."

"No," I said, "She will be my personal blood canteen and mine alone. No one else will drink from her, and you will leave the Sanctuary and everyone in it intact."

"Very well," Afina replied, "I agree to your terms. But know this: since we do not have any blood in here, we will have to get it out there, from the local people." I swallowed, knowing I might be about to sacrifice thousands of lives. But I couldn't let her kill Magnus and my other friends in the Sanctuary; Kate, Will, Henry.

My mouth was just forming the words, "I kno—" when suddenly, Nikola was there, pulling the queen away. He stopped in front of Magnus.

"Hi!"

"Hi!" she said back, even though she looked surprised. He held up the grappling hook.

"Nikola," Afina said loathingly, "You're out of your depth, mongrel!"

"I'd rather be a mongrel than a stuck up, inbred bitch!" he shouted at her. He threw the grappling hook at her, which caught her in the stomach and sent her fling into the wall.

"Just keep her under control," Magnus said, crossing over to the device.

"My pleasure," Nikola replied.

"I need to try and reverse the process before the others wake up," Magnus said, and began pushing buttons. The queen and Nikola transformed and fought. Afina threw Nikola across the room, and Magnus called, "Nikola!"

"I'm fine," he said in his deeper voice of a vampire. The queen growled and started toward him. "You worry about that," he said, gesturing to the crystals. Magnus hit some more buttons and the stone wall descended. She turned around and saw the queen about to kill Nikola.

"Wait! Stop! Don't kill him! I have a proposal."

"Now you want to negotiate?"

"The Praxians, your enemies, they left you the surface while they retreated into the depths of Hollow Earth."

"Helen, no," Nikola said.

" They're still there, in a thriving city, more advanced than anything you had in your kingdom." She pulled out the map and unfolded it.

"Don't do it," Nikola said.

"Be quiet!" the queen ordered, getting off of him, "Tell me more." The buildings materialized here, just like they had in our library when Magnus placed the orb in the center. It glowed as the buildings rose, Afina looking around in surprise.

"Unbelievable," she said.

"Leave the surface alone. You can have Hollow Earth; take revenge on your old enemies" Magnus said, "That's my offer."

"How do I find it?"

"The second level activates on a Praxian voice command. You tell us how to leave, I'll tell you how to talk to the map."

The queen smiled. "Humans," she scoffed as she prowls around Magnus, "I'll honor your deal. But it won't last. Once we've conquered the world down there, we'll be back."

"I don't doubt it," Magnus replied, "we'll be waiting."

"I would have so liked to have you for my court," she said. Magnus only smiled. "In my chamber, there's a sensor outlet near the door."

"How do we activate it?" Nikola asked.

"Blood, of course," she answered, "Now, the password."

"Gateway," Magnus answered.

"Kha harag!" Afina thundered.

"It should take you where you need to go." As we ran out of the room, I could hear it start to scan her. We ran back to the chamber in record time, and stopped before the pedestal.

"Which is it?" Nikola asked.

"Uh…here!" Magnus answered. He bit himself, and rubbed his vampire blood onto the symbol. The stone wall slid open for us, and we ran through it, knowing we had only seconds before the whole place went ka-boom. The floor started shaking as we neared the end of the passage. We were thrown to the ground, the sand cushioning our fall, as a huge fireball erupted from the ground behind us, creating a massive crater. We ended up sitting on a rock ledge, grateful for our lives, as billows of smoke floated up around us. Magnus looked down at the steep rocky cliff below, and said, "Cut it a little closer than I would have liked."

"What, me? It was you who handed over the map," Nikola said, "How did you know she was telling the truth about the door?"

"I didn't," Magnus answered, "But I had to stop her either way."

"Well thanks for telling me about the suicide pact," Nikola said.

"Sorry," Magnus told him.

"It's a shame we lost it, you know, we'd only downloaded a fraction of that database."

"Small price to pay," Magnus said.

"For my life?"

"For saving the world from human enslavement!"

"Oh, right, that too."

"Sorry your glorious legacy didn't turn out to be all you were hoping for."

"Please. She was an entitled bitch with a Nazi complex. The world in her image? I don't think so. No, we mustn't forget the most important achievement of the day." Magnus looked at him blankly.

"My resurrection," he answered.

"Oh, here we go," Magnus said, shaking her head and smiling.

"I guess your plans for world domination are back on track then?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered, and then sighed, "Sweet, sweet resurrection!"

**~~o0o~~**

"Hey," Will came into the conference room, "How was your field trip?" Magnus and I glanced at each other. "Any treasure in the latest Praxian stronghold?"

"More of a summer palace for vampires, really," she told him. She and I shared an amused glance.

"Okay," Kate prompted.

"You'll be interested to know that our world once again contains exactly one Sanguine Vampiris," she said.

"Tesla," Will said. Kate looked at him.

"Oh…what…? How did that happen?" Kate asked.

"In case of emergency, break glass?" Magnus offered.

"Is that a good thing? I mean, who knows what that mad scientist is going to get up to now," Will pointed out.

"Trust me, Will, you'd much rather have Tesla representing that vampire race," she told him. "Now, I understand that our taminsail problem has been unexpectedly front burnered." Will and Kate looked at each other.

"Yeah—Yeah, that…that's on me, umm…" Kate looked down.

"No, no," Will cut her off, "It was a team effort. If there's any problem, I take full responsibility."

"It's not a problem," Magnus shook her head.

"Well then, I take full responsibility," Will told her. We all smiled.

"You put some heavy hitters on notice," she spoke to Kate. "Feel good?"

"Feel better when we deliver," she said.

"Count on it," Magnus nodded. Kate smiled and looked down again.

**Review please!**


	26. Carentan: Cerellium and Saffron

**Chapter 26: Carentan – Cerellium and Saffron**

**Sorry, long time since my last update. Not a very long chapter either. But I promise the next one will be _very, very_ interesting…and I've mostly got it written. How many of you saw Sanctuary for None Part 2? If you haven't yet, skip right from here to the chapter. Spoiler alert and all that. / The poor Big Guy! But the Teslen kiss was great! And Henry and Nikola working together for once! Let's hope for a season 5! \\\ Okay, I'm done. So, read!**

"Hey," I greeted her.

"Tayla!" Sofia leapt up to hug me tightly.

"So, how's school going?" I asked her as I sat down on a bench.

"Fine," she answered. "How's life at the research facility?"

"Oh, lots of life and death situations," I told her, too seriously. She laughed.

"Yes, when a medical book falls on your head," she chortled. Little did she know I had been completely serious with my last comment. The pinnepex, Jessoped quills, cillobar spores from Hollow Earth, mothmen, birthing diprotodon, and, most recently, the vampire queen. My cell phone rang.

"Be back in a sec," I told Sofia, stepping away for a minute. "Hey, Kate, what's up?" I asked.

"Ravi's missing, investigating numerous disappearances near a city called Carentan," she answered.

"As in Carentan, Normandy?" I frowned slightly.

"Yeah. The Doc was there during World War II, using those autotype things. Something about a fire elemental being forced into the ground around there. Anyway, she wants us to come check it out with her."

"Me too? I've got that mission with Lía and Alfred right now," I reminded her.

"No, she wants you to stay here, complete the mission and keep in touch with me via cell phone until you can join us."

"Sounds good," I replied.

"Okay. Good luck."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

"Who was that?" Sofia asked.

"Oh, my friend," I answered, "from the research facility."

"Friend?" She raised her eyebrows, obviously expecting a story.

"Yeah. Her name's Kate and she's twenty-eight." I paused, unsure what to say next. "She's really…nice…and funny…and…"

"Huh," Sofia said, "Maybe I can meet her sometime?"

"Maybe," I replied, making no promises. "But now I'd like you to meet Lía and Alfred, also from the research facility, although they don't work there."

"Yet." Lía's smile widened. I shuddered inwardly at the thought. She introduced herself, and then Alfred as her boyfriend.

"You keep referring to it as 'the research facility,' but does it have another name?" Sofia asked.

"I guess you could call it…the Sanctuary," I shrugged. Now, enough small talk. "Sofia, we need to know about the man you saw. With the crate here in Glade Park?"

"Oh," Sofia frowned, "That." She twisted her hands nervously. "It's going to sound crazy, but I think…I think…" she said in a hushed voice, "I think he had three eyes." She looked at me and my companions fearfully. "Am I crazy?"

"No," I assured her, "It's just a tattoo. Where did he go?"

"That way," she pointed with a shaky hand toward a path half-obscured by trees. "Why…why do you need to find him?"

"Huh? Oh, uh…he stole something from the research facility."

"Then wouldn't this be a job for the police?"

"Mag—_the doctor_ likes privacy, remember?" She nodded and I glanced at Lía and Alfred. "We should probably be going."

"Right," Sofia said, "Well, good luck."

"Thanks," I told her. Lía, Alfred, and I set off for the path at a brisk walk. Once mostly concealed by the trees, we pulled out our scanners. Magnus had assured me that Henry had designed them, although if that was supposed to make me worried or feel safer I wasn't sure. They blinked on. Hopefully, we could use them to track the abnormal who had stolen the crate. It was full of food for another of his species that lived at the Sanctuary. We were to apprehend him and at least get the crate back, although it would be better to convince/make him go back to the Sanctuary.

"Hey, I got something," Alfred announced, "Bit of residue, right there. And there's another…" He pointed a few feet ahead. "There." Lía pulled him in for a quick kiss, and we continued to follow the trail until we reached a street corner. A homeless guy sat on the curb on a bunch of dusty burlap sacks across from us and two women with huge Target shopping bags crossed the street on the other side. There were no cars. Alfred pointed in the direction we needed to go. The homeless man rattled his rusty spoon in his old tin can that looked like it might've once contained green beans. He had a black cap pulled over his forehead. "Here," Alfred told us, stopping right next to the man. We all spotted it at the same time: the remains of our crate sticking out of the nearby garbage can. The homeless guy eyed us with beady eyes and set down his tin can. Almost faster than we could follow, he jumped to his feet and had the sacks over his shoulder in seconds. He ran down the alleyway, leaving us to only blink after him in surprise.

Lía gestured to the ground, pointing out the smudge of fresh blood on the concrete. "He won't get far; he's injured."

"Yes, but he's eaten the food in the crate. Some of it anyway. The rest is probably in those burlap sacks. This makes our job a whole lot harder. We were counting on him being weak from hunger," I pointed out.

"So?" Lía smiled slyly, "We're a trio of vampires."

"All right, tranqs it is," I sighed, slipping the pack off my bag and opening it. They each took a weapon and we continued down the alleyway. We all turned to the left, tense, as something clanged. A pigeon flew up above the rooftops.

"This way," Alfred pointed, "He's close." Lía and I followed Alfred's lead as we made our way forward. Then we saw him. He was leaning against the wall, hand on his side. I could smell the blood from here, slightly bitter on the wind. Without warning, Lía leapt over our heads, straight towards the abnormal. She landed in front of him and pushed him up against the wall by his neck, claws extended and tranq gun pressing against his chest. She bared her teeth.

"Lía, no!" I cried out, regaining my voice. Her head whipped toward me.

"You dare tell me what to do?" she asked, her voice deep. "I was to be the leader of the Sanguine Vampirisa; that was how it was supposed to be!" she spat.

"Well, I'm sorry your quest for power with the Cabal didn't work out, but—"

"But no matter! I'm still your better, and you'll learn your place soon enough! Let's start with—" The abnormal stabbed her with his right palm, a long spike growing out of it. She let out a small "Oh!" and slid to the ground. Alfred ran forward to Lía and I fired the tranq gun, catching the abnormal in the shoulder, and again in the calf. He staggered and fell to the ground. The spike receded back into his flesh as I stood over him.

"How is she?" I asked Alfred. He looked worried.

"She's out cold," he answered, "Shouldn't the wound have healed by now?" I squatted down next to him.

"Not only that, but what calliphoid grows spikes out of his palm? I don't think we were chasing a calliphoid," I answered. "All right, how fast can you go carrying one of them? The sooner we get to the Sanctuary, the better."

"Carrying her?" A grim smile came onto Alfred's face. "Fast as I can without her." I nodded, picking up the full burlap sack and stuffing into my backpack. It fit, barely. I lifted the man into the fireman's carry position on my shoulder and ran.

When I got to the Sanctuary, Alfred and I set both of them up in the infirmary. I wished Magnus was there, but unfortunately there was only me. As Alfred restrained him to the bed with a set of handcuffs, I set up an IV for the abnormal. I pulled a syringe of strong sedative out of the drawer and gave it to him. Then I set about sterilizing and bandaging his wounds, which resembled bullet holes. Four of them, just below the ribcage. After restraining him, Alfred took Lía's hand and sat by her bedside for the remainder of the time.

Looking at Lía, I started to question my decision to treat the unknown abnormal first. She was very pale, her heartbeat slow and breathing shallow. The wound hadn't healed either like it ought to have, only gained a green pallor. I tried to think of everything Magnus had every said about poisons and vampire physiology, but there wasn't much that pertained to this case. And this blasted headache wasn't helping either.

"The spike was poisonous, wasn't it?" Alfred asked, his voice hollow.

"That's the only possible solution," I answered.

"You _do_ have the antidote? You're not going to just let her die!"

"I don't intend to," I replied, and then stopped, struck by how much I sounded like Magnus. I raised my eyebrow at Alfred. "How much are you willing to do to save your girlfriend?"

**~~o0o~~**

"How sure are you this is going to work?" Alfred asked.

"Since harvesting it off a human is out of the question, this is our best bet. We could try animal plasma, but I think there's only time enough to try one thing."

"Okay," Alfred agreed. "I already have a killer headache, a little more pain isn't going to make that much difference." He had a headache too? Odd, but there was no time to stop to wonder about it.

"Knife or nails?" I asked as I pulled a jug of emergency animal plasma from the fridge to sustain him.

"Knife," he requested. I set it next to him on the counter and pulled up my pant leg to grasp the knife concealed there. I pulled it from his sheath and held a small container ready. I placed the tip of the knife blade on the skin of his forearm—causing him to shiver at the touch of titanium—and tightened my grip on the plastic container in preparation. He nodded, biting his lower lip. I made a perpendicular slash across his arm. A drop of blood fell into the cup before it healed. I slashed again, making a set of scratches, but again only a few drops fell into the cup. He grimaced in pain and squirmed against the chair but kept his arm steady.

"It's no use," I told him, "We're never going to get a reasonable amount of blood this way. This is going to hurt." Without any more warning, I stabbed straight into the left side of his stomach. I kept the knife there, and a steady stream of blood flooded into the cup. Doing it to a fellow vampire made the left side of my stomach hurt, and increased my headache. When the container was mostly full, I yanked the knife loose, dropping it on the counter, resisting the urge to lick it clean. His hand groped for the jug of animal plasma. He gulped it down, gasping as the cut on his stomach healed.

"Well, let's see if all that was worth the pain?" he gasped. Lía hadn't stirred, but she was only unconscious, not in a coma. I dribbled a little of Alfred's blood on her lips. Almost immediately, her tongue flicked out to swipe up the drops. I trickled more into her mouth. She swallowed and then opened her eyes. She pushed herself into a sitting position. Though still deathly pale, her heart rate and breathing had improved drastically.

"What happened?" she asked, taking the cup from me.

"The spike was poisonous," Alfred answered.

"Okay," I pointed to Lía, "Rest. Alfred, take care of her. Tell the Big Guy about our friend here. I have a plane to catch."

"Okay," Alfred nodded. I picked up my knife, cleaned it, and left the lab with it. Time to join Magnus and Kate in Carentan.

**~~o0o~~**

I didn't bother trying to call Kate before my flight, knowing they would still be on their plane, having left only an hour ago. After having landed in Normandy, France, I wish I had.

I don't speak French, so I couldn't ask for directions.

I had no idea where to go, the road signs were all in French too.

Luckily, Kate called me right as I was about to start on an empty road. "Tayla, where are you?" she asked.

"I just got off the plane; where are you?"

"Magnus and Will…down…Declan and I…waiting for them…west road…twenty miles…"

"You're breaking up," I told her.

"Government…" The connection died.

"Crap," I said looking around. She had said west road, and twenty miles. I hope those two things went together. I started to walk along the westward road (l'ouest). I increased my speed to a run, regretting the lack of animal plasma in my backpack. I stopped as the road split into two. Which one to follow? Kate hadn't mentioned a fork in the road, but static obscured a goodly amount of her information. There was the tramping of boots ahead on the left one. I prepared to go right, planning to stay undiscovered, but no such luck. The two men came into view from around the corner and looked up. They pointed their weapons at me, barking in French to each other. They came up and asked some questions in French that I couldn't understand.

"Anglaise," one of them said to the other.

The other one scrutinized me and then said, "Speak English?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"You…come…with us. No fighting."

I sighed and then nodded my assent. They escorted me down the left road. After w turned the corner, I could see that had set up some kind of barricade, preventing cars from continuing down the road.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked. They didn't answer, just jabbed me in the back with their gun.

"Keep moving," the English-speaking one grunted, "We are taking you to the camp." We went off the main road and into the wilderness, presumably taking a shortcut. After another few minutes of tramping, we came to a padlocked chain-link fence. The French soldier unlocked it and shoved me inside. Beyond it was some sort of camp, a command tent in the middle. Trucks loaded with missiles and other weapons were off to the side. The men guarding the command tent hailed my two.

"Nous avons trouvé celui-ci dans les bois le long de la route! Je pense qu'elle fait partie de ce groupe!" the man who didn't speak English shouted.

"The mercenaries will take care of you," the man grunted, "No escaping. No going to Carentan." The men guarding the supply tent came over.

"Come with us," they said. They shoved me into a tent off to the side. Kate looked up.

"Tayla!" she exclaimed, sounding surprised.

"Where are Magnus and Will?" I asked. Declan shook his head.

"They took an underground passage into Carentan, mate. Been gone for about forty-five minutes."

"We just called the Big Guy about ten minutes ago," Kate said. "He said there was a strong satellite transmission coming from the command tent, but he couldn't eavesdrop. He also said, right before our call came in, he picked up short bursts of static, like screeching white noise. It could be interference, but…" Kate shrugged.

"We don't know. We're waiting for a call from him," Declan nodded.

"Wait," Kate said suddenly.

"…What?" I asked, frowning.

"Tayla, can hear what they're planning inside the command tent from here?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah…" I listened intently, focusing on the direction of the command tent. "No, they're speaking in some other language, German or French or something…"

"Darn," Kate said, looking down at the ground.

**~~o0o~~**

Kate's stolen phone rang.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Listen to this," the Big Guy grunted.

"Time dilation field," came Magnus's voice. It had obviously been prerecorded.

"That came from her?" I asked.

"It was an extremely compressed radio signal," the Big Guy answered.

"From here?" Kate asked, puzzled.

"From Carentan. It's Magnus," the Big Guy answered.

**~~o0o~~**

"Time dilation field?" the leader asked incredulously.

"Her message is irrefutable evidence that they're still alive!" Declan said.

"And they need help. So let's move," Kate continued.

"We're not kidding. Time dilation fields are nothing to play around with," I told him.

"Your colleagues took it upon themselves to break through the barrier. Their fate is their own responsibility," the leader answered.

"So what the hell are you and your boys doing here, then? Because you're certainly not helping anyone trapped in Carentan!" Kate asked.

"There's a plan. It's in motion," the leader replied cryptically.

"Oh yeah," Kate said sarcastically.

"Hey, this satellite feed, how long's this been here?" Declan asked, bending over a computer.

"Few minutes ago. Suddenly appeared," he answered. On screen a line of rocks created a Ci in the fields near Carentan.

"That's an elemental symbol," Declan told him.

"Not according to my science guys. No element on earth like that," the leader said.

"True. That's the symbol for Cerellium, an element found…elsewhere," Declan replied.

"All personnel," the radio crackled, "Project Greenhouse is a go.T-37 minutes, mark."

"This is a message from Magnus and Will," Declan said seriously to the leader.

"What does it mean?"

"Ah, it's hard to explain, but give us time," Kate answered.

"Time you don't have. The field is expanding. My job is to stop it," the leader said firmly.

"Project Greenhouse. It's an air strike," Declan realized.

"They're going to blow Carentan off the map," Kate agreed.

**~~o0o~~**

"Even if you put the time node pieces on a plane right now—"

"There's no way we're going to beat the air strike," Declan said.

"Does it have to be Cerellium?" Kate asked the Big Guy.

"There must be something else we can substitute," Declan said into the phone.

"Ah, I don't know…" the Big Guy answered.

"Okay, Biggie, remember last week when you were making that bouillabaisse and we ran out of saffron so we used turmeric instead and it tasted just as good!" Kate said hopefully.

"Did not." The Big Guy grunted.

"He's right," I told her.

"You get my point," Kate said through clenched teeth.

"All right, let's give it a shot. What you got in your kitchen over there?" the Big Guy asked. We poked our heads outside the tent, looking around. My gaze settled on the truck full of missiles I'd seen earlier. Kate and I looked at each other.

"There's a truck full of missiles," I told him.

"Biggie, isn't there a metal—" Kate said.

"In the thruster stage," he grunted.

"Okay, great," Kate said.

"Keep me updated," the Big Guy said, and hung up.

We stole across the camp towards the truck. Kate quietly pulled down a black case and opened it, revealing the black missile with yellow stripes.

"Oh," she breathed, "Beauty."

"It's not going to be easy walking a surface to air missile past these guards," Declan pointed out.

"I can take it," I offered.

"We don't need the whole missile. The alloy Biggie mentioned is in the thruster stage. It's part of the heat shield. I don't suppose you have a screw driver?" Kate asked.

Declan pulled out a knife. "Penknife?" he offered.

"Yeah." She took it, prying off a piece. She handed the knife back to him and picked up the back end of the missile. Kate slipped the rod out with expert hands. "Oh, come to mama," she muttered. She set it in the driver's seat of an abandoned truck and fastened a bungee cord to the wheel, rigging the steering wheel and the gas pedal to drive into the field as I came up.

"You're going to need this," Declan said, proffering her a large rock.

"Thanks," she said, placing it on the gas pedal to hold it down. She started the engine—the idiots had left the keys in the ignition—and it rolled forward. We all stepped back to watch it go.

"Hey! Hey! Jeep! Stop it!" the mercenaries yelled. It smashed through the fence, barreling down the road. It disappeared in a flash of light.

"Hold your fire!" the leader commanded. "What the hell was that all about?" The mercenaries closed ranks around us, herding us into the command tent. Steaming with rage, the leader followed. "One more stunt like that and the next bullet goes in your head!" he shouted.

"To hell with you, there are people alive in there!" Kate yelled right back at him.

"There's still a chance to save them," Declan said in a somewhat calmer voice.

"And since you wouldn't, we had to!" I told him angrily.

"Not in the next nine minutes," he said, "The birds are already in the air. Let's go." He pushed us toward the exit. He and the mercenaries loaded us onto a vehicle, speeding us away from the fire zone.

"Stop! You have to stop!" I yelled at him.

"This is going to blow up in your face!" Kate shouted.

"Just listen to us; a time dilation field is a massive concentration of energy," Declan told him.

"You hit that sucker with a bomb and there is no telling what the fallout will be!"

"You still don't get it, do you?" the leader asked, "The train has left the station. Whatever happens, it's all going to be over in sixty seconds."

"Sir?" the mercenary driving asked, "I'm getting something." He turned it up.

"We have lost sight of the time dilation field, sir, I repeat, according to the readings the time dilation field no longer exists."

"What?" the leader asked.

"Magnus," I mouthed to Kate, who nodded, wide-eyed.

"Sir, the birds…thirty-five seconds to detonation…sir?" The leader looked at us, struggling with his decision. "Thirty…twenty-five…twenty…"

"Call off Project Greenhouse," the leader said finally.

"Thank you," I said.

"We need to go back," Kate told the driver. The driver looked uncertain.

"Do what she says," the leader sighed. The vehicle spun around on the road and we headed back the way we'd come. We got out of the truck next to the field and Kate and I took off into it towards Carentan. Without realizing it, I left her behind with inhuman speed. I scrambled to a halt and went head over heels as I passed them, lying in the grass.

"Kate!" I called. I bent over Magnus and took her pulse. She was out cold, but alive. Will looked around, eyes half closed. Kate ran up. "They're alive," I told her. She knelt down by Will.

"Will, can you hear me?" she asked. He grunted in response.

"The time dilation field is gone, but you and the Doc are the only ones…You negated it just in time, or the airstrike would have blown us all up…Will?" she asked, shaking him. He was unconscious. Two mercenaries came up, helping Kate lift Will to carry him back to the truck. I lifted Magnus. One of the mercenaries eyed me uncomfortably. Of course. To them, I was human. No way I could lift her that easily all by myself.

"Help me," I called to him. Between us we carried her back to the van. The driver dropped the leader off back at the camp, who ordered him to take us to the hospital. The nurses, jabbering to each other in French, took Magnus and Will off of our hands when we arrived at the hospital after the driver game them his ID. The driver translated for us.

"Ils se rétablissent rapidement," the nurse said.

"They will recover soon," the driver translated.

"Nous vous appellerons quand ils se réveillent. Ensuite, vous pouvez leur parler. Ils seront dans la salle 615."

"We will call you when they wake up. Then you can talk to them. They will be in Room 615."

"Merci," I told the nurse.

"Vous êtes les bienvenus," she smiled. Kate and I looked at each other. We would have a lot to update them on when they woke up. Speaking of people who needed updates…the Big Guy deserved a call.

**Okay, Out of the Blue coming ASAP, all I've got to do is add the end part. Went totally off the episode with it. Okay, I'll give you one hint: vampire! The sooner you review, the sooner you get to read it!**


	27. Out of the Blue: Nightmarish Bliss

**Chapter 27: Out of the Blue – Nightmarish Bliss**

**Hello everyone! Vampire time!**

**TV-PG V**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_TESLA: It's the queen of vampires._

_TESLA: Look at her. Perfectly preserved._

_TAYLA: It was then I realized this wasn't Afina's tomb. She was alive!_

_MAGNUS: There haven't been vampires on Earth for a very long time._

_TAYLA: I am one of the vampires of eld._

_AFINA: Welcome to the New Age._

_AFINA: When I repopulate my species, I plan to do much better than a mixed blood mongrel._

_AFINA: You read the legend. Afina laid to rest to awake kianaru: the time of returning._

_MAGNUS: But not just Afina._

_AFINA: That's right. Afina and her court._

_AFINA: In my days, it was an honor to serve the queen."_

_MAGNUS: I'll pass. _

_AFINA: Suit yourself. And you, have you decided to join my court or will you fight me for her?_

_TAYLA: I will join your court and not oppose you on one condition. You leave Magnus and the rest of the Sanctuary Network alone._

_AFINA: I accept, but first I'll need the blood to feed my waking warriors._

_TAYLA: No, she will be my personal blood canteen and mine alone. No one else will drink from her, and you will leave the Sanctuary and everyone in it intact._

I looked out from the top window of the Sanctuary at Old City. Or, rather, what used to be Old City. In fact, the only place untouched was the Sanctuary. The rest of it had been torn down years ago, and replaced with shining white buildings. A more accurate name would be Vampire City. But, of course, that would be a more accurate name for _all _the cities. Humans no longer roamed the streets freely, only moving in big groups from workstation to workstation. Some scrubbed the shiny cobblestone streets, where only a few specially designed cars roamed. They were entirely electric, and were 100% non-polluting. Most humans traveled on bikes or walked on their own two feet.

The existence of abnormals was no longer a secret, and instead the Sanctuary was host to school groups who regularly came through for educational tours. We were required to teach how abnormals were evil because they had allied with the vampire's enemies, the Praxians. All children, vampire or not, learned the history of the Age of the Vampires, how the Praxians defeated them, and how the vampires destroyed Hollow Earth and took Earth back only five years ago. Vampire representatives came every month to check up on our progress. Every lab was filled with vampire scientists. It was more a research facility than a place of refuge now.

The Big Guy was in containment. Not that he did anything wrong, but as Queen Afina put it "his ancestors allied with the Praxians, and therefore he is not to be trusted." Henry had been permanently changed back into a human, and Druitt had been freed from the electric abnormal that was controlling him. Magnus and Druitt were married now, but Magnus had chosen to keep her maiden name, much to Druitt's displeasure. At 21, I was senior advisor to the queen, and basically got whatever I wanted. Nikola had found a pretty vampire woman to spend time with, and was relatively happy for the world as we know it being destroyed. We rarely saw him except for holidays and special occasions, such as the day vampires had fell the United States, the last country standing before them, July 4th, 2012. "Independence Day." Ironically, we had lost our freedom on the same day we had earned it, just two hundred thirty-six years later. Lía, Alfred, Danaka, and George had been the first casualties of that war.

Afina had built her grand palace in what used to be the state of Colorado, and told her court members to build their respective estates around it. I got stuck in California, near the San Francisco area. We were using the technology the vampires stole from the Praxians to create my home: another Sanctuary. All over the world, Sanctuaries were being left alone like the queen promised, but they were falling apart anyway. The Old City, London, Mumbai, and Beijing Sanctuaries were pretty much the only ones left. Abnormals were fleeing to them for safety from Afina's wrath, but there were too many of them and too little space in the Sanctuaries. The San Francisco Sanctuary that I was about to build would be the biggest, most fortified and vampire proof of them all. I was just about done creating it via the neural interface, and this would be the last time I got to see Old City for a long time. The Old City Sanctuary was going to Artemis, also a member of Afina's court, and one of the few powerful vampires who didn't hate abnormals.

I sighed and walked back to the lab where the neural interface machine was waiting. I stepped up and perfected a full stone wall encircling a ten mile campus, complete with titanium-ion turrets. Out behind the Sanctuary on the grounds was our food supply: we were going to grow most of what our patients would eat ourselves. There was no way any vampires were going to help us feed the ones who were "unnatural creatures of land and sea and air, marred by fin and fur and scales." On the grounds I designed a place where my trusted guards, Eda, Coth, Tris, and Flora would stay. I was done. My Sanctuary was complete. It was complete with a state-of-the-art security system, with scans at all entry points that determined the type of creature, brought up all the known information on the abnormal and its habitat, and then alerted a staff member to create it and then lead the abnormal to it. The computer printed out a map of the Sanctuary, and I boarded the private plane set to take us to San Francisco. Magnus was waiting for me in the front most set of seats.

"Everyone on board?" I asked her.

"Yes," she sighed, "It's hard to believe we're leaving. We've been here for so long."

"I know," I said, "but at least it'll be more peaceful than here." As I had told Afina that I wanted Magnus as my own personal blood donor to save her life, it only made sense she would go with me. My four guards boarded the plane and took the seats behind us, touching their pendants, their symbols of loyalty to me, and said, "We are ready to go."

The plane took off and we all sat in silence, watching Old City get smaller and smaller until it was just a dot on the surface of the Earth. We arrived in Cali shortly before noon. Magnus, being ranked 'BDCA,' Blood Donor for the Chief Advisor, got to ride with me to the spot where the Sanctuary was going to be built. I never drank from her, but her taking that position was the only way to save her from Afina's own blood thirstiness. The only place official blood donors weren't allowed was the Council Meetings. We stepped out of the car, and a male vampire greeted me.

"My Lady Tayla, it's an honor,"

"Thank you," I replied in kind.

"If it pleases you, we are ready to begin," he bowed and handed me the orb that would build the Sanctuary. I unfolded my map and carefully centered the orb on it. I felt us rising through the air, a little disconcerting before the floor was built beneath us by the Praxian technology. I knew we would eventually end up in Magnus's office. The floor was created first, then the walls, then the roof, and finally the furniture. I led our group to the elevator and we glided smoothly down fifteen floors with the push of a button. The doors opened in the entrance hall, whose security I turned on at the computer. We had thirty seconds to leave before the security systems came online. We walked briskly out the double doors and into the afternoon sunshine. We had to walk all the way to the stone wall that encircled the complex before we were able to look up at the top of the tower that we were just in: where the offices were located. Everyone I knew well at the Sanctuary got one up there, even Kate, although I didn't know what she would do with hers. Blare her music player?

My awe-struck silence as I gazed up at the—my—enormous building was interrupted by shouts and cries behind us. I turned and saw that Will, Kate, Henry, everyone I knew at the Sanctuary was arriving. The stood by the front gate gawking at the new Sanctuary. My guards stood there too, and I went over to greet them. "Greetings, Lady Tayla," Tris purred as I approached.

"It is quite magnificent," Coth said.

"It's a shame you plan to fill it with those freaks of nature," Eda added. She had always been the least accepting of abnormals of my guards.

"They are no different than any of us, Eda," I admonished. She dipped her head respectfully but I could tell she still didn't approve. I knew she wouldn't. If someone didn't get used to them after being my guard for four years, they never will.

"We're supposed to live in that place?" Kate asked, also looking up at the building, "What do we do if we get lost?"

"It's not that different from the Old City Sanctuary," I told her, "Just multiply everything by two. Two times the number of residential floors, two times the number of rooms per floor. Same layout and everything. Except our offices and rooms are in that top tower." I pointed to the highest tower of all.

"Here they come," Eda muttered. I turned and saw our first group of transport trucks arriving from the airport with our patients, including the Big Guy.

"Will, can you get the rest of the staff inside and direct the trucks?" Magnus asked, taking charge. I smiled at her gratefully.

"I'll show the abnormals to their rooms," Henry offered. I nodded, and he took off for the entrance hall. I followed him, wanting to see how my security system worked out. Henry punched in his key code and stepped onto the platform. It scanned him and then the mechanical voice called out. "Identified: Henry Foss. HAP. Class 9 Hyper-Accelerated Protean/Human." The doors opened and admitted him inside. I punched in my key code and stepped onto the platform. There was a slight tingling sensation as the machine scanned me, and then the disembodied voice said, "Tayla Magnus. Vampire." The doors opened and I joined Henry on the other side.

"So how do you like my security system?" I asked.

"Just one thing it needs," Henry said, "A hot female voice instead of the mechanical one."

I punched him in the arm and whispered, "Would you rather have Queen Afina's voice instead?"

"Ah, no!" he said laughing, "Her voice creeps me out. It's so not feminine, you know?"

The doors opened again, and Magnus stepped through.

"The walls," she asked, "Titanium-ion reinforced with the same carbon compound of the cave we awoke Afina in?"

I nodded and said, "I never knew you had knowledge of rock compounds." She shrugged. The door opened again and Will stepped through. "The trucks are unloading now in the—" he stopped, noticing the look on my face.

"What is that?" I asked. I pushed past him to catch a last glimpse of an odd wavering symbol in the air before the door slammed shut. I turned around to ask them if they'd seen it. They were all staring at me like I was crazy. "Did you see that?" I asked.

"See what?" Will asked nervously.

"The…the…" I realized I didn't know what to call it, "the…symbol, in that room. It was just there! Like a sideways blue hourglass, or an eight, or something!" The door opened again to let Kate through. I looked at the room again, but the weird symbol was gone.

"There's nothing there Tayla," Henry said, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Maybe the stress of—" Magnus began.

"No, no I'm fine. It was probably just a trick of the light or something," I said confidently. Deep down, I wasn't so sure.

"Okay. Well, the abnormals should be coming through now. Apparently a group of teenage vampires had some fun with slingshots while they were disembarking the plane, but they'll all be fine. We should go help unloading the crates though."

"On it," I said. I left the group and headed for the crate unloading area. I had just seen my first crate when I was bowled over in a bear hug by a large hairy thing.

"Big Guy!" I said happily. Eda, Coth, Tris, and Flora stood over in a corner. Eda looked on disapprovingly, but Coth and Flora pulled her over to help unload. I picked up a smaller case of slime—Walter's bug suit—and a bucket of beetles and headed for the conveyor belt. I placed the items on their and walked beside them as they moved toward the scanner. I inputted the Old City Sanctuary's ID as where they came from, and the scanner uploaded a little map of which cells to put the abnormals in. I dropped the abnormals off in their pre-made cells and then headed back up for more crates. When I had created this place using the Praxian neural interface, I had designed the cells of all the abnormals moving with us. The rest I had to leave blank, because I had no idea what kind of abnormal would make their home there. I continued distributing abnormals to cells for the rest of the day.

We finally finished at ten o'clock, leaving me to wearily crawl into bed. I pulled my covers back, turned off my light, and crawled into bed. I fell asleep almost immediately, but I had the weirdest dream. I opened my eyes and I was in a laboratory of some kind. Doctors stood over me, talking to each other in low voices. I was floating in water, an IV hooked to my arm. One of them administered a clear liquid into my IV, and my eyes closed again. I woke up in my room with a start, and, with a glance at my clock, decided it was too early to get up. I settled back down again, and had another vivid dream.

I was on a high platform, above a cheering crowd, being congratulated for something. Afina stood beside me, hand on my shoulder. A vampire news reporter was announcing that this broadcast was live. She turned to me.

"So, Tayla, this is obviously a big day for you. Your Sanctuary is complete! Anything to say about that?"

"No," I answered, "Except that I hope it will withstand the ravages of time."

"Indeed," the reporter said, "What was your inspiration? I mean, besides the famed Helen Magnus!"

"Uh," I frowned, "I would like to thank my foster mom for believing in me. She's been a great help." Even though it was a dream, I kept up the pretense that I was a vampire of eld. Luckily, it had become a habit.

"Oh, that's nice. Is she still alive?" All of a sudden, over the crowd, that symbol appeared again. In my mind, images flashed, just long enough to register before fading into the next. A tombstone. My mother's name on it. Her being killed by men. I blinked, and the symbol was gone again. I had gotten a better look this time, it looked more like the infinity symbol inside a large double helix of DNA minus the A, T, C, and G chemicals.

"Yes," I said uncertainly, "She's…still in Old City." That's when I woke up.

The rest of the day went in a blur: I got up, showered, had breakfast, and helped make a cell for an extra vampire rabbit and her babies. On the way back, I forgot which Sanctuary I was in and ended up taking a wrong turn into one of the labs and knocked over a beaker of God knows what. It took me a second to remember that this wasn't the London Sanctuary, and then I headed up three floors to eat lunch with Kate. Later, I was in the library with Will researching the preferred habitat of a tropical frog. I was flipping through an old book of rainforest legends and Will was reading a mission report from when we went there. All of a sudden, I forgot what I was looking for.

"Umm, Will?" I asked.

"Mmm," came his response.

"This is going to sound like a stupid question, but what are we looking for again?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, "Maybe you should get some rest. You have that big council meeting tomorrow don't forget."

"Oh! Yeah thanks, I forgot. Maybe I will go get some more sleep. I didn't sleep well last night."

Everything went fine that afternoon. I had no more weird dreams that I could remember, and I went to bed that night happy with my first day at the new San Francisco Sanctuary. I had another dream that night. I opened my eyes to see that laboratory again, but this time no doctors stood around me. I was alone. I lifted my head out of the water. I ripped the IV out of my arm, which healed very slowly, draining much of my strength. I guessed in my dream I hadn't had any animal plasma in a while. Then a doctor was at my side, pushing me back down. I sent him flying into a drug cabinet. He got up, wincing, and pushed me back down again. He spoke through the syringe in his mouth.

"Why did I sign up for this? It's one thing to do it to Helen Magnus, it's quite another to do it to a living vampire!" the man grumbled. He took the syringe out of his mouth, uncapped it, and shot it into my arm, meeting only slight resistance by my healing powers. The lab faded away and I woke up in me room at the Sanctuary. At noon I boarded my plane with my guards. The plane flew on a nonstop flight to the queen's palace. We landed and were escorted by royal guards to the council room. Tris came with me inside. As usual, it was highly decorated and the seats were tall and white. The queen's was at the head of the table and was adorned with precious jewels and plated with gold and silver. She was already sitting in it.

"Welcome back Tayla," she said, "I hear your _Sanctuary_ has just been completed."

"Yes, your majesty," I said, giving her a small bow. She had said the word '_Sanctuary_' with disapproval in her voice. She also hated abnormals, but had promised to leave the Sanctuary Network alone in return for my joining her court. Technically, I could have my home be a Sanctuary if I wanted. I took my seat to the right of the warrior queen, as befitted the queen's chief advisor. Tris, purring softly as was customary, set my straight black hair in the proper position of a high-ranking vampire. The queen's was set perfectly as always, her hair cut with her symbol. Mine was cut with a triangle on the bottom, and no longer brown. Before Afina's rule, it had been a nice brown, and rippled down black when I transformed. The vampires altered it at Afina's direction, making my hair identical to every other vampire's.

One by one, the other members of the queen's court, including the new Head of the Old City Sanctuary, Artemis, filed in. They all took their seats and the session began.

"We have a problem on our hands," Queen Afina began, "A band of humans have joined together to destroy us."

"We are vampires. They are humans. I do not see the problem," Herra swept her heavy-lidded eyes across the room.

"They have developed a vampire weapon," Afina said. She paused to let this sink in. "We do not have much information about it yet, but my scientists think it's an energy weapon that shoots rays of titanium-based energy. It also renders our technology inert."

"How is this possible?" Zeuz banged the table with his fist, "We told no one of this weakness, and burned all references of it before claiming power!" The rest of the meeting was spent discussing battle tactics. Artemis, Poseadion, and I watched impassively. Artemis and Poseadion because they really couldn't care less, they were no fans of Afina, and I because I wanted this band to destroy her.

After the meeting, Afina called me to stay back. I lowered myself back down into my seat, my heart pounding. "You didn't seem very into this session," she said.

"No, your majestic beauty," I replied politely.

"What Zeuz said wasn't entirely true, as you know," she said, watching my face carefully, "The knowledge still existed in one place after we claimed power: the Global Sanctuary Network."

I kept my face blank. "Are you suggesting I gave the information to this band so they could kill you?" She started to prowl the room.

"I'm suggesting," she said in a deadly soft voice, "that you aren't who you say you are."

"You mean I'm an imposter?" I asked, playing stupid.

"You're not a vampire of eld, are you? You're a filthy mongrel, like that tick Nikola!"

"So what if I am?" I asked calmly.

"You don't seem to realize how much I've done for you Tayla. Helen Magnus, Nikola Tesla, John Druitt, Kate Freelander, William Zimmerman, Henry Foss…I could dig up a hundred crimes on each of them."

"Like what?" I challenged.

"Magnus…protecting abnormals who sided with the Praxians. Nikola…unlawful experiments with our species. Druitt…being host to an abnormal. Miss Freelander…bribing my warriors for the release of abnormals. Dr. Zimmerman…protecting abnormals. Mr. Foss…well, he was an abnormal. Just to name a few."

"What're you going to do? You promised to leave them alone. If you kick me out of your court without telling people why, you'll lose favor. If you tell them, you have to admit I tricked you." I was now out of options. I'm a Sanctuary member, not a diplomat. Why was I doing this? How did I get here, to this moment? I couldn't remember. This felt all wrong, like I didn't belong here, in this position. If she came up with a comeback, I had nothing left in my arsenal. She sat down again on her throne.

"And if you suddenly and inexplicably…fall violently ill?"

"My allies in your court will never believe that."

"What if they…die, shockingly?"

"You would really kill tons of people, just to secure your leadership?"

"Yes," she answered bluntly, "You may go." I left the room immediately and was grateful for my guards as we walked up to the plane. Via Skype, I informed Magnus and the other key personnel of the danger we were all in. I kept expecting an assassination for the next few days, but none came. Finally, three days later, Henry discovered a secure channel that was hidden from us before. He hacked in, and we watched the programming, hosted by Afina herself.

"The Sanctuary Network was responsible for this leak. They are the reason for the deaths of so many of our kind by this new weapon. The entire Global Sanctuary Network will pay for the damage they have done to our kind!" The image on screen changed from Afina to a view I knew well. The view from our long distance front gate cameras. Except now there were about a thousand vampires streaming up to our front gate. Across the bottom, words scrolled. _This feed is live_, it read.

"We need to move," I shouted. "Everyone find a computer!" An alarm blared and everyone scurried to find a computer. "Set the turrets to fire titanium-ion bullets!" I picked up my tablet and checked that everyone did so. My voice was being broadcast everywhere in the Sanctuary. The first vampires came into range. "Fire at will," I ordered. The first line of vampires on screen stopped moving, but the second line was already past them, getting ever closer to our front gate. More shots fired, but we had only just destroyed the second line when the third reached the gate. At first they tried breaking through, but, realizing this place was all fortified with titanium, jumped over the wall. Most cleared the wall barely, but a few of the smaller ones crashed against it and went limp. Vampires streamed over our land, destroying the crops.

We moved onto the turrets on the Sanctuary, which shot a pepper of bullets into the horde. The walls of the Sanctuary were much too high to jump, and the vampires had learned their lesson about climbing titanium. Working in a seamless team, they stood on each other's shoulders. Up close on screen, three to four vampires balanced themselves on each other's shoulders. The bottom one jumped, and when he reached maximum height, the second one jumped, and so on. Only one fourth of the vampires were getting through, but I knew they were more than enough to overwhelm us.

Just as I clipped my vampire shield bracelet on and silently motioned for my guards to do the same, a wave of vampires crashed through every window of the Sanctuary. As soon as my guards were safe, I hit the emergency button. A Praxian energy wave swept through the building, passing harmlessly through abnormals and humans alike, but reducing every vampire in the building to ashes. More leaped through the shattered windows, and I hit it again. I had only three more left, the power sources I was able to steal would then be depleted. "Duck and cover!" I shouted. The Sanctuary employees abandoned their computers, throwing themselves under desks, chairs, whatever to save themselves from being sliced by the vampire's claws. Two of my guards died, Eda and Coth, protecting me as I ran through the Sanctuary, tears streaming down my face for all the lives lost. An arm shot out from under the doorway, knocking my guards and me flat. Afina stepped towards me, smiling sinisterly. She held an ornate knife in her right hand. I stared up at her, determined to die bravely and with honor. Just then two figures cannon balled through the glass atrium ceiling, curled tightly into balls and spinning rapidly. They both landed on their feet. Artemis stood up, curly blonde hair falling past her shoulders with serene grace. Afina stared at her and her hair, a completely unheard of thing until now. Artemis's own public display of defiance. At least ten cameras were probably filming us live right now for the world to see. Poseadion's hair was less of a contrast, a light brown.

"We renounce you Afina. You were wrong to prosecute abnormals for something their ancestors did thousands of years ago."

Poseadion straightened. "Your reign is over, Afina."

"No!" she hissed. Her jeweled dagger hit Poseadion squarely in the chest. Artemis held a bow loaded with titanium arrows. She shot twice, but Afina pulled my unconscious guards bodies up as shields, killing them. This gave me the distraction I needed. I pulled off my ring. I transformed, knocking Afina sprawling. She hit the floor, knocked out. I should have dealt the killing blow right there, but something stopped me. Printed clearly on Afina's face like a tattoo was the symbol: a blue double helix with the infinity symbol inside each loop. I hesitated, wondering what it meant, and Afina's eyes flicked open. She leapt up, thrusting another bejeweled knife through my heart. I could feel the titanium iron sinking into me, blocking my usual healing powers. Then everything slipped away. Afina disappeared in a flash of red light, as did Artemis, Poseadion, and my guard's bodies. Magnus came running into the corridor and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, and then the entire Sanctuary disappeared. I was floating above the Earth, which promptly disappeared like a cloak had been engaged in Stargate SG-1. I had just enough time to wonder why I was thinking about a TV show at a time like this when I noticed it, outlined against the stars of the night sky. The symbol. It started to glow and sped toward me. As it passed through me my body burned.

I sat up in shock, my body wet from the water I was sitting in. I was in the laboratory again. "Virgil, she's awake!" a voice called.

"Which one, Magnus?" A man came running down the stairs and stopped next to the doctor that had spoken. I knew him from somewhere….

"No, the vampire, as we expected," the doctor answered. Then I knew the man. He had trapped Kate in a bug suit.

"Virgil St. Pierre!" I shouted, rising out of the water. I tried to change but found I couldn't. I reached to pull my ring off to find it missing. Instead I was wearing the watch. Odd. The titanium alloy was like cold ice touching my skin.

"No, no, stop," Virgil said as I reached out to push the button that would release it from my wrist and allow me to transform. I hit it. I hit it again. Nothing happened.

"The water probably short-circuited it," Virgil said, but by that time I was already releasing it manually. I slid the first piece across the watch, and then pushed the second down, under it, and to the other side. The watch came off, and I stood up in the water. The doctor backed away, and Virgil looked scared.

"No, Tayla, it's not what you think," he said hastily. I paused, still ready to slice hik open. He put Kate in a suit last time that made her go crazy; this was exactly the kind of thing he'd do to me. Invoke my genetic memories into a reality in my mind.

"What do you mean? You trapped me in a dream world!"

"Yes, but only to save your life," Henry interrupted, coming down the stairs.

"Henry? You're in on this?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Listen to me. We put you in that state to cure you. A psych worm hit you with its venom, and the venom traps you in a dream world while it devours you. We added the symbol as a lifeline to the real world."

"Psych worm?" I asked blankly.

"We'd never seen it before," Kate answered, coming up behind Henry. I had a vague recollection of a large snake-type thing erupting out of the ground, confirming their story.

"Where are Magnus and Will?" I asked.

"They got hit too," Kate said.

"We think your mind healed itself along with our drugs so you came out sooner. They don't have your healing powers unfortunately," Virgil said.

"But…didn't we just use six years of our lives?" I asked.

"Actually, it's only been two days, seven hours, thirteen minutes," Virgil said, glancing at his watch, "Your subconscious mind works faster than your conscious one."

"Come upstairs," Henry offered.

"So, how did you like living in bliss?" Kate asked me as we followed Henry up the stairs.

"You call that bliss?"

"What happened?" Kate asked.

"Well, let's see. I was back at that cave when we awoke the vampire queen, except we didn't kill her. Then the vampires destroyed Praxis, and then they conquered the surface. The Sanctuary Network fell apart, and Afina suspected me of lying about being a vampire of eld, so she attacked my Sanctuary. Then she killed me."

"You had your own Sanctuary?" Kate asked.

"Yeah," I answered sullenly, "in San Francisco."

"Huh," Kate said.

"The psych worm's venom must have created a world based on your memories and vampire genetic ones," Virgil said interestedly.

"I had a few allies in court for the protection of abnormals, but Afina killed one of them," I said, and a new thought occurred to me. I wondered if the members of Afina's court had actually been named after Greek gods, or that was just my subconscious naming them because "Afina" sounded a lot like "Athena." Actually, I can't say 'named after Greek gods,' because Afina's court existed thousands of years before the Greek gods were invented. If they were, I bet that's where humans got the idea. I mean, vampires were strong, powerful, and vastly intelligent. Isn't that the description of a god? The humans surely could have mistaken them for gods, and the stories that got passed down through the years would have been distorted and exaggerated, and their names twisted to what they are today. Come to think of it, Artemis' titanium arrows did shine a lot like the Greek goddess's silver ones supposedly did. Poseadion had been adamant for the protection of sea-dwelling abnormals. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that the Greek gods had been created in the image of the vampires.

"Wait a minute," Kate said, "You had allies in the court?"

"Yeah, the court of Afina, why?"

"So you would have some experience dealing with political matters?"

"I guess so," I shrugged.

"We need to get you back to the Sanctuary right away," Kate said.

"What? Why?" Henry asked.

"In her dream world, she had a position of political power," Kate said as she dialed the phone, "She has the best chance of holding them off."

"Holding who off?" I asked, but Kate ignored me.

"Yes…it's urgent…Yeah, that would be fine! Just hurry!" Kate said into the phone.

"What is it?" I asked again.

"Abnormals," Kate said, "are erupting everywhere. We're on a full global alert. The military wants to destroy them. The Sanctuaries are in disarray."

"You want me to deal with _that_?" I asked incredulously.

"You can do it," Kate said, steering me up the stairs and into bright sunlight. She pushed me onto a helicopter and called, "Good luck!"

Great. Just great. Me, only half-informed, was going to hold off the entire U.S. military and settle down and reassure the Sanctuaries until Magnus got back. Too soon, we arrived at the Sanctuary. The Big Guy met me at the door.

"Where are Magnus and Will?" he grunted.

"They're not well yet," I replied. He exclaimed in alarm. "But they will be! The cure works. Right now I have to address the other Sanctuaries." He gestured me inside. _All I can say is, Magnus better get here soon,_ I thought.

**What did you think? Leave a review!**


	28. ITB: As Magnus Would Say, Bloody Hell!

**TV-14 LV**

**Hello everyone! How are you all? Just wanted to let you know about this:**

**FanFic4Kids:**

**On the ****21st of January 2012**** three authors from the Sanctuary FanFiction community will be uploading Teslen (Helen/Tesla for the uninformed) oneshots. Yeah yeah, we know, this happens all the time but guess what? There's a twist! We're going to use our totally warped imaginations for philanthropic purposes! For each signed review we receive on these stories, we'll donate $2 AUD (or equivalent) to Sanctuary4Kids (S4K)! The author who receives the most reviews by the ****28th of January 2012**** will also donate another half on top of the amount already raised by their reviews!**

**The participating authors are:**

chartreuseian  
>Emmy1512<br>LoveActuallyFan

**We ask all Sanctuary fans out there to step up and give us a review on these stories (they'll be clearly marked so you can't miss 'em). The more reviews, the more money Sanctuary4Kids will get! So come one, come all and support us as we try and turn our obsessions into something that will actually benefit the world!**

**Also, if you want to donate more than your $2 review (and keep in mind that it can be $6 if you review all the stories PLUS more if you end up reviewing the winning story), we are asking anyone and everyone who wants to donate to go to the Sanctuary4Kids website on the 28th of January and make a donation, putting 'fanfic4kids' in the organization section of the donation form! That way your donation will be clearly identified as part of this effort :) Of course, we get that not everyone can do this but if you can, your support would be amazing!**

**Disclaimer: S4K and are in no way affiliated with the fundraising process and all content belongs to the respective owners (as much as we might wish otherwise)**

**So, please review those stories starting January 21! Okay, now read!**

**Chapter 28: Into the Black – As Magnus Would Say, "Bloody Hell!"**

_Previously on Sanctuary…_

_KATE: Abnormals are erupting everywhere. We're on a full global alert. The military wants to destroy them. The Sanctuaries are in disarray. _

"How long Henry?" Magnus asked, striding into the lab. Henry clicked away at his tablet.

"Coming online now," he answered. We looked up to the view screen at the top of the main lab to see Dr. Lee and another man. I didn't recognize the man, but he looked military. If he was talking to Lillian Lee, he was obviously important though.

"Dr. Magnus. Dr Zimmerman, good to see you again. This is General Villanova with the Lotus Defense Corp. General Villanova's men were first on the scene. I've asked him to oversee ground operations," Dr. Lee told us.

"My men have established a three mile perimeter and are clearing the surrounding area of inhabitants. We've also scrambled all communications and satellite transmissions," General Villanova informed us.

"Yes, I've noticed," Magnus replied, "But I need to understand the full scope of the situation."

"Ah, we're getting the first images through now," he announced, "I'm sending you a clean feed." The screen changed. My eyes widened at the sight. Many people—twenty, at least, although more were surfacing—walking through the clefts of rock in scattered groups. Some of them were obviously abnormals, but none looked so threatening the military would need to be involved. They're walking out looking bewildered and unarmed. There was no need for Villanova; this was a job for the Sanctuary Network.

"Dear god," Magnus breathed.

"Abnormals. They're coming up from Hollow Earth," Will said.

"I thought they couldn't do that," Henry objected.

"Our top priority is to ensure the safety of the general public. At this moment we don't know who these creatures are or the threat they pose," General Villanova said after giving us a minute to take it all in.

"There's no reason to suspect a sinister motive, General. Judging by the images, they're in need of our help," Magnus told him.

"They surfaced less than sixty miles from a populated area. I'm requesting full authority to arrest and detain them by any means necessary," he answered.

"Whoa, just ease up on the throttle there," Will protested.

"With all due respect, General, this is not your area of expertise," Magnus told him.

"And yet we were the first responders."

"That's because you jammed all the signals from the region," Henry said angrily.

"You jumped the gun to deliberately keep us in the dark," Magnus agreed.

"Dr Magnus, what is your proposal?" Dr. Lee asked.

"Turn over the abnormals to the sanctuary. Give us full jurisdiction. We've dealt with this kind of situation before, we know what we're doing," Magnus replied.

"Do you have facilities large enough to house this many creatures?" she asked. Uh, no.

"Currently, no," Magnus admitted, "But I do own a large vacant lot not far from here. It's fenced in, completely private. The abnormals will be safe until I can arrange for more permanent accommodation." Large vacant lot? Wait a minute…

"Sounds lovely. But I'm concerned about containment. My men currently have the situation under control. They can round up the abnormals, convey them to your location. Stay on and help run the camp," General Villanova suggested.

"That's very considerate of you, general, but unnecessary," Magnus answered.

"Actually, I think it's a good idea," Dr. Lee said.

"Ah come on, are you kidding me?" Henry asked.

"This is a highly volatile situation and we can't afford a repeat of the psych worm incident. I see no harm in working together," she replied.

"But we—" Magnus's protest was cut off.

"I'll send an advance team and arrange transport. You can expect the abnormals by morning. Thank you doctors." General Villanova hung up.

"I appreciate you cooperation with this matter Dr Magnus. I'll be in touch," Dr. Lee said, not giving Magnus a chance to speak before she too hung up.

We all looked at each other. "Ah, what the hell just happened?" Henry asked.

"The word railroad comes to mind," Will said.

"Henry, contact the other heads of sanctuary and make them aware of the situation. Try to figure out why Ranna isn't answering. I need to understand the situation," Magnus ordered.

"And I'm—?" Will asked, nodding. Going out and buying her a vacant lot.

"Going out and buying me a vacant lot," Magnus said. Called it.

**~~o0o~~**

"These guys had a busy morning. What'd this place set us back?" Kate asked the next morning. We were standing in the new not-so-vacant-anymore lot Will had bought for Magnus. Lotus Defense marines were unloading crates and boxes by as as we walked further into the encampment. Silver cases were already stacked up high.

"You don't wanna know," Will replied. We turned the corner around the set of buildings to see the first row of blue tents, emblazoned with the Lotus Defense Corps symbol. _Lotus Defense Corps Disaster Relief Area Authorized Personnel Only._ A Lotus defense guy came up and addressed Will.

"Dr Zimmerman. Lt. Coxwell," he introduced himself, shaking Will's hand.

"Good to meet you," Will replied.

He looked Kate up and down quickly when she held out her hand and deliberately snubbed her, leading Will further in.

"Nice guy, isn't he?" I whispered to Kate. We shared an amused/annoyed look.

"You tell me," Kate muttered.

"Not exactly as secure as advertised," Lt. Coxwell was saying.

"Well, we didn't have a lot of time, so…" Will explained.

"Well, I've worked with worse," Lt. Coxwell said.

"Hey, what is this?" Will asked, gesturing to a guy holding a coil of wire in each hand, "Razor wire?"

"Just a precaution." Another guy walked past holding handcuffs, followed by one carrying a stack of folded blue jumpsuits.

"Jumpsuits? What kind of place are you running here?" Kate asked.

"Handcuffs?" I asked angrily.

"I've been granted authority to secure the camp as I see fit," Coxwell told us flatly.

"Hold on a second," Will said, stopping him, "These people have come to us for help and you're treating them like criminals."

"As far as I'm concerned, until we know differently, that's exactly what they are." He turned. "Briggs! Damn it!" he shouted at one of his men, "Get off your ass and move those med supplies!" We continued on without him.

"Look at this stuff!" Kate cried, pointing out the stack of cases with a big sticker on them: _CAUTION: Explosive material inside. Do not store near open flame._

"This is ridiculous," Will said, ducking inside a blue tent and pulling out his cell phone. "Magnus has got to hear about this."

"And then maybe Dr. Lee will reconsider," I agreed. He set it on speakerphone so she could hear all of us.

"Will, how's it going?" she asked.

"It's a military camp," he replied.

"What?"

"Yeah, explosives and razor wire and everything," I told her.

"They're acting like they're like criminals," Kate said.

"Okay," Magnus said in a steely voice, "I'm going to have another talk with Dr. Lee."

"Another?" I queried.

"Yes, I already talked with her once. Apparently, the UN is going against the policy they've had for decades. They want us to focus on protecting ourselves. There's now a 'dedicated security force, one that deals with abnormals over and above the activities of the Sanctuary.' In the mean time, I want everything to go as smooth as possible. Help the abnormals settling in and get back to me." There was a click. Will, Kate, and I looked at each other. There was shouting outside. We exited the tent to see the first truck pull up in front of the fence. The Lotus Defense guys opened it, admitting the truck through. A couple more closed it again, and a few more opened the back of the truck to let out its passengers. Abnormals came spilling out, all dressed in identical blue jumpsuits, carrying what few possessions they had.

"Medical services are available in tents 1-5 in sector two," said the voice over the the PA.

"Welcome everyone," Will said, "There's food and blankets inside. I know you've had a rough ride but you're safe now." A huge byroscar came lumbering out and one of the brave Lotus Defense mercenaries held out a bottle of water. The giant creature roared, knocking the water out of the marine's hand. Immediately the others of his squad had their guns pointed at him.

Kate rushed forward, calling, "Hey! Hey!" She got between them, forcing their weapons down. "Relax, relax. He's a bryoscar. Water is toxic to him." She turned to the byroscar. "It's okay; let me take you inside." She led him off toward one of the tents. Will and I looked around, monitoring the solution, trying to stop any other disasters before they happened, but it was an impossible task. This whole _place_ was a disaster waiting to happen. Smooth as possible? Ha.

I turned, "Will—" but he wasn't beside me before. He must've seen something they needed help with. A few tents away, an argument was breaking out. A glowing creature was being pushed around by some of the Lotus Defense guys.

"They can't get around without wearing a jumpsuit!"

"It's standard protocol!" They shoved a folded blue jumpsuit at the abnormal. He balked, struggling to get away, but hey held him fast, occasionally switching hands to keep from being burned by the heat of the abnormal's skin.

"Any residents with special dietary requirements, come to tent six in section four for an assessment," the PA cut in.

"Gar!" came a roar. I turned to see another large abnormal barreling toward them, yellow eyes flashing. His arms blue arms were layered with black stripes. He wore a blue jumpsuit, and, judging by the direction of his running, aimed to maul the marines. He ran with all four limbs on the ground, using his hands as a second pair of feet.

"Stop!" I called, but the abnormal didn't slow down. I leaped in front of it, blocking it from the Lotus Defense mercenaries. It barreled into me, sending us both crashing against a stack of crates.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said to the abnormal, who snarled angrily. "They don't know; they don't understand." I looked over at the marines, who had their guns pointed at the abnormal next to me. "Sergeant Mulik," I read off his name tag, "Let the glowing abnormal go."

"Can't, Miss Magnus," he replied. He recognized me? "Standard protocol. He has to wear a blue jumpsuit to be identified as a refugee in the camp."

"So you're telling me your guys are so stupid they can't tell he's an abnormal?" I asked hotly. I jerked the abnormal, still cowering in fright, from their hands. Sergeant Mulik blustered. "His physiology exempts him from the blue jumpsuits. If he wears regular clothes, his body will overheat and he'll die." I led the glowing abnormal away, the striped one loping along behind.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. The glowing abnormal flinched away from my touch. "They won't hurt you anymore," I told him. "Do you have a name?"

"Baahili," the glowing abnormal said quietly.

"All right, Baahili. I'm Tayla Magnus." His head jerked up at the mention of Magnus.

"You are related…to Helen Magnus?" he asked. His strange accent made the words difficult to understand. There was no _h _sound and each syllable was pronounced separately.

"Yes…do you know her?"

"She went to our home…our old home. She saved us all…for a little while, before the power went out."

"The power went out?" I asked.

"Very recently. Our water is directly connected, so…We waited as long as we could before coming here."

"That's a nasty cut," I said, gesturing to his head. "There's a medical tent right over there."

"Thank you," Baahili said. He gave an odd bow and left. I turned to the striped abnormal, who had risen to his feet.

"What are you?" he asked, his voice husky and guttural.

"That's…not important," I replied.

"We are all abnormals," he said, "There is no shame in that. It is the humans that are the odd ones." I hesitated. I had the feeling "vampire" wasn't going to go down well in this camp full of Praxian abnormals.

"What are you called?' I asked, hoping to make him forget about the subject.

"Basíl," he replied. (Bah-seal) Over to the right, an argument was starting to break out.

"Uh, it was nice to meet you, but I think I have to go," I told Basíl. He nodded and padded off.

"What's the problem here?" I asked, pushing in between two men. Marines were lined up on either side, but unsure whether to shoot or not.

"He is giving them more food than us!" the abnormal exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," the man shook his head, "but food is dished our based on weight. They're heavier than you guys are."

"That's unfair. We must have food to fuel our bodies. We need more than them."

"Just give them the food," I told the marine.

"But my orders—"

"You will get new orders! Within the hour. Do it."

"Fine." He dished more food into their bowls. "But if you're wrong, _Miss Magnus_, it's your head on the chopping block."

"Good thing it wouldn't kill me anyway," I said sassily before walking off. It occurred to me that that was a lie, but I didn't feel like going back to correct it. Chopping off their head. Yeah, that's one way to kill a vampire.

**~~o0o~~**

When I arrived back at the Sanctuary, Magnus was in the middle of a video call. I lingered by the entrance to the main lab, waiting for her to finish. Dr. Lee, Gen. Villanova, and several Sanctuary heads were being briefed.

"We've interrogated Fallon ourselves; there's no need for Villanova's men to get involved. She said when they got to the nearest gateway the Praxian defenses were down. It would explain why the psych worms escaped," Magnus told Dr. Lee.

"What does Ranna say about it?" Dr. Lee asked.

"We haven't been able to reach her. It's possible she's got her hands full quelling the rebellion. Truthfully, I'm inclined not to tell her about Fallon, given my experiences with their judicial system," Magnus admitted.

"What about their intentions here on the surface?" Gen. Villanova asked.

"All they want is to resume their way of life."

"Wishful thinking, isn't it?" he asked.

"I suggested that her people would be safer in the Sanctuaries but she's not certain that she can convince her tribe of it," Magnus said.

"Tell them they don't have a choice," Gen. Villanova replied bluntly.

"That's not how the Sanctuary works, General," she answered.

"What? You're just going to let them leave? Give them a hundred bucks each and turn them loose in Times Square?"

"Of course not. We work with them, help them to adjust."

"They can never adjust; they're abnormal," Gen. Villanova said. I glared at him, although he couldn't see me.

"Meaning what? They have no rights?" Magnus asked angrily.

"Doc, I need you up here," Magnus's comm unit crackled.

"A little busy right now," she replied tensely, glancing up at the people watching her.

"Uh, you need to get unbusy," Henry replied. She ended the call as quickly as she could and joined me in the elevator. Something _else_ went wrong? Great, just what we need.

"What's this about, Henry? Did you hear from Ranna?" she asked him as we joined him in the hallway.

"Ah, no, she's still not answering," Henry replied, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"What is it then?"

He gestured as we rounded the corner. "Uh…" Druitt stood there, being escorted by Will.

"John," Magnus said.

"Adam's alive, we're all in grave danger," he answered. For a minute, we all stared at him shocked. Then shock gave way to anger.

"Could you give us a minute?" Magnus requested. Henry, Will, and I all nodded and retreated away, back to where Henry was working. I could still hear Magnus and Druitt talking, or should I say, yelling. I relayed the necessary information to Will, but left out the private information. It made me feel slightly guilty, to listen in on a private conversation such as this, but I couldn't help myself.

"Explain yourself," Magnus exploded.

"I saw Adam a few days ago," Druitt replied.

"How is that possible? The last time I saw, him he was—"

"He was getting away with the kellorem device," Druitt finished her sentence. "He said he could give me everything I ever wanted. Reminded me the first deal we made worked out well. I told him he was crazy. He told me he planned to use the device to save his daughter."

"Imogene? She died over a hundred years ago," Magnus said.

"Exactly."

"Time travel?" Magnus asked, "It's impossible."

"That's what I said. I told him he was mad. But he said he found a way. That he had a cure, a Praxian cure, for her disease."

"What difference would that make? And why would you allow him to live?"

"He promised to take me with him. Back to Oxford. Before…before we injected the Source Blood."

"Why would you want to do that?" Magnus asked softly.

"You know why. If I could have prevented us from taking that damnable blood things would have been so different. You and I could have been together. Raised children."

"Why would you think…you would have been altering the course of history."

"That was the point."

"But Adam's blood inside the module, you sent back the kellorem device."

"After he copied down its specifications. He used time nodes to allow himself to finish. We needed to prevent you from looking for us."

"And where is Adam now?" Magnus asked.

"He disappeared. He had no intention of honoring his word."

"So now you've come to me for help," Magnus said scornfully.

"Yes." A few minutes later, Magnus joined us back at the lab, taking Will and I with her through the halls.

"John and I are going to Hollow Earth," she announced.

"You serious?" Will asked. She didn't seem to question how he knew exactly what was going on.

"If Adam succeeds in altering the timeline then everything about our world, the refugees, the Sanctuary, _our very lives_ will be irreparably damaged. We may even cease to exist!"

"The butterfly effect? It'll be like Carentan all over again," Will said.

"Except on a much larger scale. And with a copy of the kellorem device, Adam has all the power he needs to carry it out," Magnus agreed.

"Okay, I get it. But what about Lee and Villanova? They aren't going to be too thrilled when they find out you're gone," Will pointed out as we stopped by the elevator.

"You'll have to explain my absence somehow. But leave Adam out of it. There's no sense spreading panic," Magnus told him. The elevator door opened. Druitt was waiting inside. "I'll be in touch as soon as I can."

"Shall we?" Druitt asked, extending his arm. Magnus took it and the two of them disappeared in a flash of red light. The elevator doors closed again. Will and I looked at each other.

**~~o0o~~**

"Hey, what're you doing back?" I asked. Kate looked up from the bag she was digging through.

"Oh, Tayla…I was just getting something…for a friend, back at the camp," she answered.

"This friend…gave you that?" I pointed to the necklace she wore. A beautiful blue polished rock of some kind hung off the black string. She smiled and laughed a little, fingering it. "Yeah…Garris. Want a ride back to the camp?"

"Sure," I smiled. On the drive there, I filled her in on everything that had occurred.

"She's seriously going to down there with only Jack the Ripper for company?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, you know Magnus. Hopefully Ranna will be willing to help." We arrived at the camp and Kate parked the car. We both got out and split up. She presumably went off to give her gift to Garris, and I had to make sure things were going smoothly. I wandered through the camp, suddenly realizing I'd never talked to Magnus about the whole food situation. I gave Will a call from an empty blue tent.

"Will," I said when he picked up.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I need you to talk to Villanova about the food situations in camp."

"What's wrong with them?"

"Right now they're dishing it out based on weight, which, as you know—"

"Yeah, right, I'm on it," he replied, "I'm just about to make a call to Dr. Lee anyway."

"Okay thanks," I said, ending the call. I exited the tent and continued onward. The sounds of an argument breaking out reached my ears. I turned the corner to see Kate trying to split two guys intent on each other.

"What did you call her?" one of them, a Herusan-Quinterran with black hair asked.

"You heard me," the other one said.

"It's okay. I don't even know what that means," Kate protested.

"No, but he does," the black haired one replied, not taking his eyes off the other man. He came slowly out from behind a table. More necklaces like Kate's lay there. This must be Garris. "He should know better."

"Guys, I don't think this is a good idea," Kate said, appealing to Garris. They growled and shoved toward one another. Kate leapt backward and out of the way. "Crap!"

"Come on!" I gestured to her, "We have to find the Big Guy!" We met him at the entrance to the camp, but he was talking to Lt. Coxwell and already knew.

"I'm putting zones 3 and 4 in lockdown," Lt. Coxwell informed us, "But things got a little out of control before we could reign in the situation."

"Where are they now?" Kate asked. A van pulled up outside, and one of the men called to us.

"It's Dr. Zimmerman!" he shouted.

"Zone 3 and 4 are on lockdown. Repeat, zone 3 and 4 are now on lockdown," the PA stated as we went towards Will. He was getting out of the van.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Couple of guys got into a fight," the Big Guy informed him, "Things got a little…out of control."

"I'll say," Will said, glancing around. "What was it about?"

"Me," Kate replied, "I was hanging with one of the abnormals, Garris, and someone made a crack."

"And that led to this?" Will asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, it seemed to escalate awful quick," Kate agreed.

"Did you get a look at the guys that started it or where they went?" Will asked.

"Yeah, they're in a tent," the Big Guy supplied, "This way."

"I'm going back to the Sanctuary; see if Henry's got anything," I told them. They nodded before going off to find the abnormals.

"We'll call you!" Will called after me.

**~~o0o~~**

My trip back to the Sanctuary was uneventful. I entered the main lab with Aeya twining herself around my legs and met Henry.

"Tayla," he greeted me, "What's going on in there? It looks—"

"Bad," I agreed. "Kate was with this other abnormal, Garris, which started this huge fight. Things have finally gotten under control, but…Will's going to call any minute now. Any word from Magnus?"

"No," Henry replied, "No Ranna either."

My cell phone rang. "Here he is now," I said, pulling it out of my pocket and answering it.

"Tayla," Will gasped on the other end. He sounded out of breath. What in the world happened? "We've…got a problem. I heard Thelo, a tribe leader like Fallon, bad-mouthing her to some of their others. I went to warn Fallon about it but she was dead. Thelo found me standing over her body and started a fight. Lt. Coxwell and the marines got me out, but the Big Guy's holding Thelo off and we've no idea where Kate is."

"Holy crap," I replied.

"Uh, we've got a video call coming in…make that two," Henry interrupted, "Lee and Villanova."

"I'm on my way," Will replied. "Keep them at bay 'til I can get there. Thanks, man." I stuffed the phone back in my pocket.

"Okay, I'm going to—" There was a flash of red light and Druitt appeared in the main lab. He came toward us, holding something in his hands. Dread coursed through me.

"Magnus?" I asked.

"She's fine," he replied. "Mr. Foss…she sent something for you." He held out some kind of data storage device. "Information off Worth's computer. See if there's anything you can use."

"Uh, yeah, okay…" Henry said, taking it from him and plugging it in.

"Also…" Druitt began, "Praxis…it's gone." We both stared at him.

"What do you mean, gone?" I asked.

"Gone, gone?" Henry asked, "Like…moved? Disappeared?"

"Destroyed," Druitt replied. My face paled. "Worth's machine has some nasty side effects."

"That would explain why Ranna hasn't been responding to our summons," I said, sharing a look with Henry.

"We found Worth's workstation," Druitt continued, "I left Helen there. I should be getting back."

"Take me with you," I commanded. Down on the floor, Aeya growled menacingly.

Druitt paid the cat no notice. "No."

"Look, we can stand here arguing about this while she risks being by Worth on her own or you can take me with you." He extended his arm and I took hold. We disappeared in a flash of red light and suddenly we were in a tunnel. It was lit by glowing red, orange, and yellow lights. The rock walls were bumpy but smooth to the touch. Aeya mewed at my feet.

"Aeya! Bad cat! We don't have time to take you back now, so I guess you're coming with us." She purred. I sighed. Werecats.

**~~o0o~~**

"We're close," Druitt said quietly. I don't know how he could tell, the tunnels all looked the same to me. We approached an opening in the rock.

"Adam?" Magnus called.

"Helen?" Druitt asked. She flew around, pointing her gun at him before she realized who it was. "What's wrong?"

"Quiet," she ordered.

"Adam." Druitt entered the room, looking around carefully. Adam and a set of machines wavered into existence right in front of Magnus. We all stared at him. He noticed and laughed.

"He's not in hiding, he's here," Magnus realized. "He's been hiding in plain sight the entire time."

"Which means he hasn't finished his work. How do we get to him?" Druitt asked.

"Power. He must be using an external energy source to generate the rift field. That's why the lights keep flickering."

"He didn't use the kellorem device?"

"No. I suspect he needs that to power his time device. This is localized power." She placed her hand on one of the giant generators. "Likely drawn from the geothermal systems. Now I was able to partially disrupt the rift field by manipulating these machines. We need to siphon more power in order to force him out into the open."

"He wouldn't want to deplete the kellorem device when he could use an alternate source of energy," I agreed. Magnus strode over to the computer and tapped a few keys. She knelt down by the computer. "I've managed to override the safety protocols in these devices. If we draw maximum power we should be able to weaken his rift field."

"And if he compensates?" Druitt asked.

"Let's hope he can't." She turned it on and Adam wavered behind us. Magnus immediately pointed her gun at him.

"Well, if it isn't' my favorite dysfunctional couple," Adam said, "Plus one of my relatives! What a lovely surprise." Magnus shot at him, but they went right through and buried themselves in the rock.

"Damn, it's not drawing enough power to collapse the field," Magnus said.

"Adam, stop this," Druitt told him.

"Oh Johnny, still feeling miserable about not coming along?" Adam taunted.

"Adam, what are you doing? This is madness," Magnus told him.

"Says you. After I get this up and running I'll be off to the races. Amazing that Praxian technology."

"But you'll destroy everything. Billions of lives wiped out, their blood on your hands."

"What's so special about their blood?" Adam asked bluntly, "I have a chance to get my daughter back. Are you telling me you wouldn't do the same thing?"

"Not at the expense of everyone on the planet."

"Oh, you always were a bit of a bore Helen. Even your boyfriend wanted a do over until he found we were going to the wrong time."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Adam…"

"Oh, he hasn't told you the whole story, has he? Of course not. Secrets and lies. You see, John wanted to go back to 1886, before the whole source blood incident."

"But you realized you couldn't do that," Magnus said.

"She is a smart one, John," Adam told him.

"Going back to 1886 would have altered the time line. There's no telling what it would have done to the future, even the near future. Your daughter may never have been born."

"Mmm-hmm. And since this is definitely a one shot deal…"

"You chose a different year," Magnus realized.

"1898. The year she died. John got really upset. Started doing that menacing thing with his voice. That's why I had to hide, you see. And I'm guessing it's why he had to come back to you. Hoping you could somehow fulfill his dream."

"So you intended to use me for your own selfish agenda. How shocking," Magnus accused Druitt. Aeya hissed.

"Of course not, Helen," he said.

"Oh give it up, John, she knows. Least you could do is have the decency to admit it," Adam told him.

"Don't talk to me of decency. I let you live," Druitt said angrily, "Twice."

"Part of the game. I just play it better." Adam hit a button on his machine and sparks flew from the generator. Adam vanished.

"Don't talk to me!" Magnus ordered Druitt.

"You can't seriously believe that I would lead you down!"

"Can't I? You let Adam Worth live, _twice_. Everything else is beside the point."

"We need to get him back," John said.

"How? We've overloaded these devices. There's no way to siphon enough power. Face it, John, we both lost."

"No we haven't. There's another way." He grabbed two cables from the generators.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"The creature inside me lives on energy. I need only feed it what powers the rift field."

"You can't do that. The creature will become too powerful. It will consume you."

"I caused this, Helen, I need to fix it." Blue bolts of electricity began to flow from the twin generators into him, creating an aura of blue light. Magnus turned. Adam and his machines came into view again.

"Johnny, I always knew you were crazy but I never expected this." Druitt laughed. "You're too late." A silver device on the table began to glow, spinning webs of energy inside it. A bright golden oval opened up and Adam picked up his two cases from the floor. "Never enough time, is there?" he asked. He stepped backwards through the portal.

"John?" Magnus asked. A shower of sparks flew. I stepped closer to the glowing portal. The closer I was, the hotter the air became. My skin tingled. I stopped next to the portal.

"LET GO OF US," Druitt screamed. The electricity faded and he fell to his knees. "Can't blame me for the dream, no?" he asked, reeling back and forth slightly.

"The hell I can't," Magnus replied. She moved forward, running through the portal after Adam. In a flash, Aeya launched herself toward me, claws on my chest, knocking me backward into the rift. She let go and dropped to the floor right before going through. Going through the portal was the weirdest thing I'd ever done, and that includes being the Chief Advisor to the queen of vampires (albeit, in a dream caused by a psych worm). My molecules were being pulled apart one by one as I sped toward the goal. My body felt no longer my own; I couldn't have moved even if I wanted to. Then, suddenly, it was all over. Wind whipped through my hair. For a moment, I couldn't place where I was. Then I noticed the feeling of falling. I looked down and noticed. I was plummeting straight toward the heart of 19th century London.

**Thanks for reading! Please review! By the way, Tempest Part 2 (not sure what I'm going to call it yet) will have MAJOR spoilers for the season finale of season 4. I'm just giving you a heads up, I will post the spoiler alert on that chapter as well.**


	29. Tempus: A Daunting Prospect

**Hello. Tempus coming your way! Yay for me finally getting to season 4! Yes, I promise some singing.**

**Chapter 29: Tempus – A Daunting Prospect**

The impact jarred my body, but at least I didn't go splat. Luckily, this street was deserted. I waited a bit while my bones healed. Once I was whole again, I gingerly got up. Why in the world would the time portal plop me out in the air above London. I hoped Magnus wasn't dropped from that height as well. I wandered around the city a little bit, trying to remain undetected. Eventually I saw the London Sanctuary, although it bore little resemblance to the future one. I glanced around furtively and then knocked on the door. It opened. A man peered out, looking me up and down with an expression of consternation. He had black hair and eyed me oddly.

"I need to see Dr. Helen Magnus," I told the man standing in the doorway in my best imitation of Magnus's accent. He frowned at my statement.

"You're not from England, are you?" he asked and gestured for me to come inside. Magnus stood facing the opposite way in a complete Victorian dress. I have to say, she looked beautiful.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Wherever did you get that accent?" he asked and then made a point of looking me up and down. "A young lady in this day and age would ruin her life being seen dressed like that in public!"

Magnus looked up. "Tayla, oh…damn it!"

"The cat pushed me," I replied apologetically.

"James, this is Tayla," she introduced me. "Tayla, James Watson, detective." I inclined my head respectfully. "Tayla," her voice was sharp, "You are not to tell anything to James about our time, or you risk interrupting the timeline."

"I know," I said quietly. Her anger subsided into acceptance. I was here, so she'd better make the best of it.

"James, where would we find a young lady's outfit for her?"

"Don't bother," I said, "I'll stay inside anyway. I don't know how to act in this era, not like you two do."

"I think that's best," Magnus agreed, "Actually…" She looked thoughtful. "I just might have some of my dresses from when I was your age in a closet somewhere…now, if I just knew where to…" She crossed the room and went a short way down the hallway. "Aha! Here they are!" she held one up.

"It's beautiful," I said, admiring it. She handed it to me.

"Put it somewhere you can get to quickly," she said. I raised my eyebrow. "Yeah…never mind on that. Hide it." I took the dress and headed back to the main entrance hall.

"What do you have from the future?" she asked.

"A dagger, by the looks of it," James said. I looked at him, checking that my titanium knife was still concealed in its hiding place.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Detective, Tayla," Magnus said.

"Right," I smiled. I pulled out my cell phone and offered it to her. No way she was going to let me keep that. She took it.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"No," I shook my head.

"All right then. Change and then I'll do your hair in case you meet someone by chance." I nodded and slipped into an empty room down the hallway to the right. Unraveling the secrets of the dress—that is, how to put it on—took a lot of struggling on my part, but eventually I think I figured it out. Wearing it was an odd feeling, it was like no other dress I had ever worn at home, plus the corset was the most painful thing I'd ever worn. It constricted my breathing and movements. I fought for every breath, feeling like a mouse feels when it's being squeezed to death by a snake. After a few moments of practice, I exited the room, hoping that the dress would cover the plain black shoes from "the future." Magnus looked me over with a critical eye, adjusted a few things, and then reached down and yanked the corset tighter. I winced, muttering, "I never knew you could be so cruel!" She ignored my comment (stolen from Nikola especially to annoy her) and proceeded to do my hair. I think it was a Chignon, but I'm not sure. When she was finished, James looked at me and nodded his approval. Magnus, James, and I moved to another room. She pulled open a drawer and took out two old fashioned guns to arm herself with.

"I must warn you, James, things are a bit different in the future. Tayla hasn't grown up with the phrase 'children must be seen, not heard,' so forgive her tongue." She paused. "All right," she said, "Let's get a move on. He'll still be in the city but not for long."

"The Adam Worth from your time," James said, "He's coming here for what reason?"

"Open the door. Open it now. I'll throttle ya," someone said, and we all jumped. We stared at the door, Magnus cocking the gun behind her back. There was a bang on it, like someone hit it with their fist.

"Sir—" the butler outside began.

"Look, I'm not joking," the man outside said, "You'll end up in the garden. Open the door—" Was that who I thought it was? "Open the..."

"I can't..." the butler muttered.

"Open it," Adam Worth said. It swung inward, admitting him into the study as he pushed past the butler. We all faced him, surprised. It was a younger version of Adam, but only by a little. He came in.

"Adam," Magnus breathed.

"Adam," James said, just as surprised.

"Helen," he said, "James. Sorry to intrude." He swept in, fingering his hat. He looked agitated and worried. After a glance at me, he gave his complete attention to them.

"Burnt down any laboratories lately?" James asked.

"That was ten years ago and it was an accident," Adam said.

"Ten years," Magnus said, looking down, doing the math. We all looked at her.

"Listen," Adam continued, "It's me daughter, Imogene. She's gravely ill. It's a rare blood disease, and I've tried every treatment possible. Every method."

"And you want my help?" Magnus asked, looking concerned for him. She had done this before, she knew what was coming. He looked at her.

"Thank you, Helen," he said, "But actually, I've, uh, come for his help." He gestured at James. I hid my confusion behind a blank mask. Was James in this era better in medicine than Victorian-era Magnus? "You see, she's missing. Someone's taken her." Magnus, James, and exchanged a glance. Adam had disrupted the timeline. Imogene was missing. James took charge.

"Take us to the scene," he said. Adam nodded, looking grateful. Apparently I was going outside after all. We rode in a horse-drawn carriage to the hospital, Adam explaining the whole while.

"I just left to go to the apothecary," he said, "I was only gone a few minutes. She wasn't even awake when I left…"

"Was there anyone unusual in the building?" James asked as we pulled up. We stepped out and entered a large building, trying not to get wet in the rain. Adam led us up to an empty bed. Magnus knelt down by the bed and James looked around. Eventually he went over to the bed with his magnifying glass.

"I just don't understand who would do this. I haven't much money. She's just a child," Adam said, running his hand through his hair.

"Worth, be a good chap and ask the night ward for the visitor manifest, will you?" James asked. Adam left, still fingering his cap worriedly.

"There's no sign of a struggle. She went without resistance," James said once he was out of earshot.

"Of course she did. She thought he was her father. In the past I remember, Adam came to us for help finding a cure for Imogene—two months from now. This moment never happened," Magnus said.

"And now this future Adam has his daughter. And a cure?"

"Which means he's already altered the future, forever!" Adam came back.

"No one visited her," he said, looking scared.

"Adam, could you wait outside for us?" Magnus requested.

"Of course," he left again. Magnus looked extremely worried.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Do you know of anywhere he might have hidden her?" James asked.

"No," Magnus said, moving toward the door, "but I suspect he does!" We followed her out into the rain again.

"Please, are there any clues? Suspects?" Adam asked as soon as we'd stepped back into the rain.

"We'd know more if you told us what you were working on, Adam," Magnus told him.

"Well, I told you, I'm trying to find a cure for her disease."

"Which is an expensive proposition. You'd need money, resources, which means some sort of extortion plot or larcenous act."

"What?" Adam objected, "No, I'd never resort to that—"

"Those lab fires were hardly an accident, and the toxins you were formulating at Oxford, I know you've created prototypes—"

"My daughter is missing!"

"And if you want to find her, you will give us names, places, safe houses, everything you are secretly planning to unleash on this city!" Magnus said, advancing.

"You're mad," Adam said.

"Helen, that's enough," James said.

"I thought you understood my situation. I guess I know better now. I'll find her myself." Adam, whirled his cloak and stepped angrily away, his figure becoming obscured by the pouring rain.

"Has society gone back to the Dark Ages? He's done nothing wrong!" James said.

"Not yet! But he will, believe me!" Magnus said angrily. I nodded.

"And if you interrogate him in this manner," James stepped closer, "it will be you who has altered the natural order of things. Helen, you have far too much knowledge about this time and place. Use that carefully."

"We need to find Adam, _future_ Adam, before too much damage is done," Magnus said.

"Finding people is what I do, if you recall…" James said, "But I will ask you to curb your temper as we go forward."

"Of course," Magnus said contritely. "James, I'm—I'm sorry."

"You can see yourself home," he said flatly, leaving a shocked Magnus standing on the streets of London in the rain. She crossed her arms, cold, and then glanced at me. We walked home in the rain. Not many people were about, and when we arrived, we dried ourselves off with a towel and went looking for a James. Voices emanated from the parlor, angry voices. John Druitt.

"Don't lie to me!" he yelled. Magnus drew her weapon and hid behind the wall. Victorian-era Helen was backing up as Druitt (with hair) advanced holding a knife.

"Five murders, their throats cut, their bodies desecrated in a manner that few beings can achieve. Instant escape from the crime scene?" Helen asked, moving backward slowly.

"And so it must be me?"

"You seem flattered."

"Oh, I am," Druitt said, still advancing.

"Deft manner of proving your innocence, threatening my life," she said, backing up into the drawer from which Magnus had taken the guns earlier.

"Call it self-preservation. Why on earth should I let you frame me for crimes I haven't committed?" Helen pulled open the drawer a little and felt around for the guns. She found nothing. Magnus had taken them. We had changed the timeline.

"Well, if you're innocent, then you have nothing to fear." Magnus seemed to realize what she'd done and quietly cocked the gun.

"You sound just like James. How much time have you been spending together?"

"And now jealousy. For whom?" He placed the knife against her throat.

"How dare you question my motives? My…feelings? You…you hunt me like an animal. After all we've been through. My heart…is yours." His hand crept up her arm and she shied away from it. He yelled and pulled her to the side the moment before he stuck the knife into the wall. Helen was frightened, and as much as it was breaking my heart to watch, I knew it was hurting Magnus more. Helen was nearly crying, her entire body shaking as she looked down. "Look…in my face. Look at my face." She slowly lifted her head to look in his eyes. He looked at her searchingly before his face contorted with rage. He released her and teleported away. Helen leaned up against the sideboard, visibly broken. She lifted her hand to her face, holding in tears. Magnus gently let the gun go back to its original position. Crying softly, Helen walked past us without noticing. Magnus walked past the curtain and into the room. She looked at the knife stabbed in the wall, and then back at me.

"I'm sorry," I told her. She only nodded and looked distant.

**~~o0o~~**

Magnus and I entered the laboratory basement just as James was coming in from the other side. "Helen?" he called.

"Over here," she answered, coming into the light.

"Any word on Adam's whereabouts? What's wrong?" he asked, looking at her. She looked down at the—was it a nightstick?

"Druitt was here."

"John? Are you—is she—"

"We're both fine, thank you. He's not happy that you like him for the latest Ripper killings, made sure I knew it."

"Not happy because I'm right?" Magnus only looked down at her weapon. "Oh, all right, no questions, I understand. But you did make a point of letting me know that he paid you a visit, which I will take to mean that I must keep focused on the case."

"Adam Worth?"

"He is expected at the Reformer Club in Pall Mall this evening. Whether it's the future or the present Adam, I—I don't know.

"Good. If we hurry, we'll beat him there."

"James, is that you?" Helen called. Magnus and I took off out of sight as Victorian-era Helen came into the lab. She seemed more stable than before and eager to bury herself in her work.

"Darling! Hello," James said, leading her over to the table.

"There you are. Are you ready to work?" she asked.

"Yes, if you are," James said, knowing of Druitt's recent visit.

"Absolutely. Now, I've been re-thinking your last theory, and I found a few holes, I'm afraid."

"Ah."

"I'm going to the club," Magnus said to me, before slipping away past some crates. Great. Now I had to find some place to hang out until they left. I decided the unused bedroom would be a good place to wait for her. Suddenly, loud, agitated sounds came up from below.

"There's been another murder," James was saying. "The alley behind the old chapel."

"Let's go," Helen agreed. They came up to my floor and exited through the front door, which closed with a bang. I was alone. Magnus didn't know about the murder. I stepped out of the room and quickly scribbled _Another murder. Helen and James gone to investigate in the alley behind the chapel. –Tayla _I stepped outside and spotted some children walking by. A passerby stopped them, handed a small boy a few coins and a note. The boy ran off to go deliver it. So that's how it was done. I looked around for some spare change and eventually found a few runaway coins under a cabinet. I went out into the street again and called out the the biggest girl in the group of children. She came over.

"Would you deliver a message for me?" I asked, handing her the coins.

"Yes ma'am!" she said, clutching the coins tightly.

"Okay," I handed her the note, "This is for Dr. Helen Magnus. She'll be near the gentlemen's club—the Reformer Club in Pall Mall. Brown hair, black dress, late thirties?"

"Yes, ma'am," the little girl ran off. She couldn't be more than…nine, ten years old? Her little brothers that followed her were more like six and four. I went back inside.

**~~o0o~~**

Magnus came back about a half hour later.

"Did you get him?" I asked.

"No," she answered shortly, "If I had wanted to draw attention to myself, I could've, but that would most likely change the future even more than letting him go until I can find him again. But, seeing as he was there and not dancing off into the sunset with Imogene, I'd wager he hasn't cured her yet."

"Well, that's good news. Now what?" I asked.

"Ah. I had an idea about that," she said, putting away her umbrella. I waited for her to change out of her rain-soaked clothes and then followed her down to the lab. She pulled out bottles from the store room and set them on the table. I lifted one up to read the label.

"Arsenic?" I asked.

"A last resort. We cannot let Adam Worth disrupt the timeline by healing his daughter."

"So you want to make a toxin that will mimic the effects of the leukemia-type disease," I caught on.

"I'm not sure I can even make one with these supplies, much less finish it in the paltry time we have," Magnus said, dripping some solution from an eye dropper into a beaker. James came in, slamming the door behind him.

"You could've stopped this! You knew what he was going to do!" he almost yelled at us.

"James, please," Magnus said.

"But you have been through all this before. For God's sake, you could save lives!"

"We both know I can't interfere. And neither can Tayla."

"Then there will be blood on your hands."

"Not if you do your job and stop looking for a shortcut!"

"And if your very presence here has changed the course of events, interfered with the investigation, what then? Can you live with that? No, please, spare me. I don't want to know the answer. Because in the future, emotions, empathy, humanity, ceases to exist—"

"You should have caught him by now!" Magnus said. "Yes, my presence here may have altered things, possibly for the worst. That woman who died tonight should be the last victim."

"But she won't be."

"Remember the purpose of the Sanctuary. To find and help unfortunate creatures, to protect them. To keep the public safe. Do that, and this case will be solved without any further bloodshed."

"And if I can't?" James asked.

"That's an expression I've rarely heard you use." He glanced down at the cluttered table, littered with bottles.

"What are you making?" He picked up a bottle and peered at the label. "Arsenic. Strychnine? A toxin," he said accusingly.

"A last resort."

"To mimic the blood disease that kills Imogene. A fail-safe in case Adam cures her. Dear God…"

"I'm not even sure I can finish making it, let alone give it to her! If there was any other way to stop Adam Worth from completely disrupting the timeline…" she stopped, growing angry. "Humanity isn't completely dead in the future, just so you know." She grabbed her black coat and headed for the door, with me following.

"You're going out? Where?"

"Hunting," Magnus said.

Now, wandering the streets of Victorian-era London during the downpour of a thunderstorm is bad. Wandering the streets of Victorian-era London during the downpour of a thunderstorm with an angry Helen Magnus is, well, if faced with the choice, don't ever do it. We walked back to the street across from the club where Adam was supposedly borrowing more money to cure his daughter. All of a sudden, Adam came out the door with another man. Children, not the ones who had delivered my message earlier, went up to him but he shooed them away and walked away into the rain. They followed him anyway, probably looking for handouts. Magnus and I, each holding an umbrella, followed them. To move faster, we discarded our umbrellas, which only slowed us down in the wind. All of a sudden, there was a flash of red light and Druitt stood in front of us.

"I'll deal with him," Magnus said sharply, in a tone that not even the bravest person would argue with. Quickly, I slipped into the shadows, melting into them. I was glad my dress was black.

"Your hair," Druitt said wonderingly. "I like it," he said with a small, gracious bow.

"I don't have time for this, John," Magnus said.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear earlier." He took out his knife and the blade flicked out with a metallic ring. "Hunting me will only make things more difficult for you."

"Let me pass."

"There's only one way to make you pay attention," Druitt said, his face hardening. He slashed at her, but to his surprise she knocked it to the side and hit him across the face. He came at her again but she hit him once more. His third and fourth tries fared no better than the first and second. He staggered backwards. She turned away from him, an odd expression coming over her face, something I'd never seen before. Wait, maybe I had. When she had been accused of killing the Big Guy in order to protect Big Bertha, I had helped her escape through the catacombs. She had been in a similar mind-set then, I had had the feeling she hurt a few people along the way. And then when she had brained Will with a board in the old warehouse. It was the same look on her face; I'd know it anywhere. Brutality and having joy in inflicting fear and pain were not usually part of her nature, but after being assaulted both physically and emotionally for a hundred fifty years by John Druitt—or having an ozone beetle stuck in her head—there was no stopping her.

"You're insane," Druitt said, coming toward her again.

"Oh, very much so," Magnus replied, still facing away, her voice filled with malice. "Fancy some more?" He raised his knife and slashed it, but she whirled around and kicked him in the chest, sending him reeling backwards from the force of the blow. She approached him and he swung at her again, but she hit him over the head with a nightstick and twisted his arm around. His other arm flew downward to strike the back of her neck but she twisted her weapon under his leg and he staggered away.

"How on earth did you—?" he asked, breathing hard, but she was already mid-attack. He flipped onto the ground and lay there for a second. Magnus removed the knife from his hand and readjusted her nightstick. He got to his feet. Through a series of kicks and blows, she pinned him against the wall, knife against his throat.

"How does it feel? Cold steel against your jugular? In the hands of someone who knows how to kill you slowly and has the will to do it?" she almost yelled at him.

"H—Helen?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Are you paying attention?" She spoke in a soft, low voice, power radiating from every word. "Stay. Away. From me." She released him and he teleported away. She was breathing hard, but her anger was fading. I knew part of her had liked what she'd done, and one part was aching for who Druitt used to be. Only one question filled my thoughts: would telling Druitt off disrupt the timeline? I wasn't going to ask.

"All right, you go that way, I'll go this way," she said. I headed right while she headed left. I saw no sign of Adam. Soft voices lured me into an alleyway and I saw the girl that had delivered my message earlier. She and her brothers noticed me at the same time and made their way, trying not to slosh through the puddles, toward.

"Have you seen Adam Worth come by here?" I asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the girl replied, "He was followed by some other children." She looked down. "The children were begging after him, bothering him. He was in an awful hurry."

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Claire. Claire Eldridge, ma'am. And me mum, taught us not to go after strangers like that. We're reduced to the streets, but not to begging like them."

"Claire," I said, "That's a nice name. Now, where did Adam Worth go?"

"He went that way," Claire pointed off down a side alley.

"Thank you," I said, placing a small handful of coins in her hand. She stared at them in wonder.

"Thank you ma'am!" the girl said, closing her fist around the coins. I smiled and she and her brothers took off, presumably to tell their mother of their good fortune.I walked carefully down the alley until I came to a staircase leading up to a door. I pushed it open to reveal Adam and a girl reading a book, sitting on a bed. She must be Imogene. She looked awfully healthy…

"Oh, Tayla, how nice of you to stop by," Adam said. Imogene looked up from her book. Seeing me, she set it down and stood up. "Imogene," he addressed his daughter, "This is the daughter of one of my colleagues who might be coming by to see you soon. This is Tayla."

"Tayla," Imogene said, "It's nice to meet you."

"It's…nice to meet you too, Imogene," I said. I looked around at all the equipment. Most of it was Praxian, and one of the healing shots Will had described was sitting on the table. I picked it up and clicked it. Nothing. I looked back at Imogene.

"You're feeling better?" I asked.

"Oh yes," came the girl's reply, "Much better, thanks to Papa."

"Why don't you show Tayla the book you were reading?" suggested Adam. Imogene went back over to the bed and sat down on it again. After a glance at Adam, I sat down next to her. She had just opened the book when Magnus interrupted us.

"Dear God, Adam," she said, coming into the room, pointing a gun at him. He started and grabbed a Praxian weapon. They pointed them at each other.

"Before you start threatening me, or shooting me, for that matter, we still have that nagging problem of the witnesses," he said, gesturing to Imogene.

"Hello," Imogene said innocently, setting the book down once more.

Magnus lowered the gun and said almost wonderingly, "Imogene."

"Dr. Helen Magnus, this is my daughter, Imogene."

"You must be one of my dad's colleagues. He said some friends might drop by. How lovely to meet you, Doctor," Imogene said.

"Dr. Helen here is a ground-breaker, just like you," Adam told his daughter. Magnus reached down and picked up the healing shot from the table. She clicked it and then stared at them. "What have you done, Adam?

"How are you feeling, Imogene?" Adam asked.

"Better than I have in years. Thanks to Papa here," Imogene answered.

"No…!"

"Oh yes. Healthy as a horse, I'm afraid. Welcome to the future, Helen. So, now that the game is over, what say we put away our guns, yes? Starting with yours."

"Unlikely," Magnus answered, raising and cocking it again.

"Papa?" Imogene asked, scared.

"Are you going to shoot me in front of my own flesh and blood? That's cold, Helen, even for you."

"What's the meaning of this?" Imogene asked.

"I'm sorry, Imogene, but this man is not your father," Magnus said.

"Please, leave him alone!" Imogene was pulled back by her father.

"I know it looks like him, but this man has ended millions of innocent lives, caused unimaginable destruction."

"Don't listen to her, darling. All of it lies," advised Adam.

"Destroying Praxis?" Magnus said sincerely, "Altering the timeline? You have to be stopped, Adam."

"Please, leave him alone!" Suddenly, Adam pulled something from underneath the desk and swept it through the air. An arc of electricity crackled as Magnus ducked. He shot at her as she exited the room.

"Papa? What is that?" Imogene asked fearfully, looking down at the weapon Adam was pulling out of a case.

"Just some insurance. Stay here. I won't be long." He turned to me. "Keep her safe, Tayla. Any kind of future you want. And," he paused, "she _is_ your great-cousin after all." He left me there with her and swept out of the room, intent on killing Magnus. I looked at Imogene, who was staring fearfully after her father. "It's going to be okay, Imogene," I said.

"Is Dr. Magnus your mother?" she asked.

After a moment's pause, I answered, "Yes."

"What does she want with Papa?" I knew what I had to do. It was wrong, it was awful, but I had to do it to set right the timeline. I had to. My lips seemed to move of their own accord.

"I don't know, Imogene, but I think we should go make sure he's okay," I said.

"He said to stay here," Imogene said.

"After a hard day's work, doesn't he want to see your smile?" I asked her, "You can go find him right now and it'll be all over and he'll be so happy to see you."

"Okay," Imogene agreed. We left the room and Imogene ran ahead. The sounds of shots made Imogene worried again, but she didn't slow down. Magnus was running up the alley and Adam was shooting at her, breaking eaves and sending loads of rubble crashing to the ground. "Papa?" Imogene called, "Papa?" Magnus stopped and stared at Imogene as Adam raised his weapon. He had a knife—Druitt's knife, the one Magnus had took—in his leg and he was shooting at her from the ground. He lifted the weapon as Magnus shouted, "Adam, no!"

Everything happened in slow motion. The shot was fired, and it flew toward Magnus but missed her, heading up above her head. It crashed into the eaves above Imogene, sending bricks and other various pieces of rubble crashing to the ground. Adam stared, horrified at what had happened. He hobbled to his feet, half walking and half dragging his injured leg in his frenzy to get to his daughter. Magnus and I just stood there in shock.

"Imogene! No! Imogene! Imogene! Stay back," he warned Magnus. For reasons I have never been able to explain, my instincts told me to flee. And I did. I disappeared into the shadows of the alley, heading back to the Sanctuary. All my senses were in overdrive and my heart pounded in my chest. I had killed an innocent. My great-cousin. Her blood would forever be on my hands. I had become what the Cabal created me to be. And I hated myself for it. Never before had I killed when it wasn't to protect myself or someone else. Now I had. Images of Imogene invaded my mind, asking me why. "I didn't want to kill you!" I shouted, gathering the looks of passerby, but I didn't care. I sat alone with my tumultuous thoughts until Magnus came back.

"You did what you had to do," she said calmly.

"There must have been another way, anything that would have not included her death—"

She shook her head and sat down next to me. "There was no other way. You did the right thing. You made the future back the way it should be." She lifted my chin, forcing me to look in her beautiful eyes, filled with concern. "If Imogene and Adam lived, Adam would have killed us both, plus this era's me. The Sanctuary Network would have fallen apart. What would have happened to Henry?"

"He would have been stuck on the moors, without you to take him in," I answered dully.

"And Will?"

"Ridiculed and scorned by all. And he never would have got together with Abby. He would have been miserable," I answered, my spirits beginning to lift.

"Kate?" Magnus asked softly.

"The Cabal would have killed her or she would have been a con artist forever," I said.

"By taking one life tonight, we saved millions of abnormals and kept the future as it was meant to be," Magnus said softly, "But it doesn't mean we have to like it." She pulled me to my feet. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"To return to the present."

"Adam had another time device?" I asked, shocked.

"No," Magnus said with a slight smile. "We're going a different way. It just…might take a while."

"A hundred thirteen years of seclusion? With you?"

"Is that a problem?" she asked.

**Okay, what did you think?**


	30. Tempus II: Seclusion

May 14, 1898

YEAR 1, DAY OF SECLUSION #12

"Here we are! Hope you like it, because we'll be living here the next hundred thirteen years," Magnus said. I surveyed the area.

"You're sure this won't change the future?" I asked.

"Not unless some billionaire's ancestors lived here, and now they died because they couldn't live here."

"Well, then shouldn't we—"

"Relax, Tayla," Magnus said, throwing her bags into the small room. It was a small hut, a shack, really, with brick walls containing quite a few "windows" that let light inside. Magnus peered in. "Well, I've stayed in worse places."

"It's not the Titanic," I said, hoping she would volunteer some information on her stay there. She turned and looked at me.

"How do you know about that?" she asked.

"Kate just said you were on it," I answered carefully.

"I was fished out of the water by Molly Brown," Magnus answered. After a second more, she added, "I was very lucky."

YEAR 1, DAY OF SECLUSION #35

"What am I going to do for the next hundred years?" I muttered.

Magnus looked at me, smiling slightly. "You could get a head start on your homework."

"A hundred thirteen year head start? Is there a Guinness World Record for that?"

YEAR 1, DAY OF SECLUSION #297

"You know, living with me changes you a lot, Tayla."

"What? How? You're not _that_ weird," I grinned at her. She only smiled. "For one thing, you've got this adorable little British accent going."

YEAR 2, DAY OF SECLUSION #377

A loud crashing sound came from one side of the small shack. A man appeared, crashing through the underbrush. I quickly hid myself. Magnus was out gathering firewood. This man, obviously from Victorian-era England, surveyed our place. _He can't tell we live here_, I thought, _so the best thing to do is stay hidden_. Suddenly I realized I'd left the front door wide open and my twenty-first century cell phone on the table. Quietly as I could, I reached under the bushes near me and pulled out my Victorian-era dress, one a proper English girl would be wearing. I donned it swiftly over my clothes. I then stepped out from behind the shack.

"Hello. Are you—" I began. Magnus cut me off, also in her Victorian-era woman getup.

"Good day, sir. Are you looking for something?" she asked.

"I may be lost," the man said, "Would the good lady fancy giving me some directions to the nearest town?"

"As the gentleman asks," she said, "The nearest town is that way." She pointed east.

"Thank you very much," he tipped his hat to her. He then went on his merry way. Once he was sufficiently out of sight and earshot, she tugged me inside and shut the door firmly behind us. "That was too close," she said seriously.

"Indeed," I agreed.

"That's it; I'm going to have to teach you how to act like a proper English young lady in case you ever meet anyone by chance again. You have no idea how to act in this century." Her voice softened. "You have to realize, Tayla, that women are not equal to men here."

YEAR 2, DAY OF SECLUSION #389

"Why did you adopt me?"

Magnus stirred from gazing into the mesmerizing flames of the fire.

"Why do you ask?" she asked softly.

"I just...I just wondered. I mean, you had just lost Ashley, and..."

"Tayla, you helped fill up some of the emptiness in my heart after she died." I was silent for a minute, giving her time to compose her thoughts and go on if she wanted to. "If...if there was the slightest chance Ashley survived and got through the EM shield, I wanted her to be somewhere safe and be supported. If she were you, I'd...I'd want her to be adopted and loved." She gazed into the fire again. "It was also partly knowing that I'd most likely never have to feel that pain again. You being a vampire, I would never outlive you and your healing powers would keep you alive. You were my safest option if I ever wanted to have a relationship for centuries-a loving relationship. And...I began to love you, from that moment in the library. But I didn't recognize it for what it was until you removed the ozone beetle from my head. The protectiveness, the tender care..." I rested my head on her shoulder.

"I love you too...Mom." She pulled me closer, tears filling her eyes.

"I miss her so much," Magnus whispered, her voice shaking.

"I know you do," I told her softly.

"I...I wish you had met her," Magnus choked out.

"I think I did. Once..." I said slowly, frowning slightly.

"Not...not as she was with the Cabal."

"No, before that...when I was about twelve." She raised an eyebrow. "It was late summer. I was walking home from a friend's house, when-"

"Your mother let you walk from your friend's house home when you were twelve years old?"

"She didn't know I was. I'd told her I would get a ride from my friend's mom, but things just didn't work out that way. My mother was always very protective on those sorts of things. Looking back, I was very naïve back then wasn't I?"

"She was probably worried about them coming for you," Magnus pointed out, "You, a young girl all on her own. Anyway, go on."

"She—blonde hair, blue eyes, black leather—pulled up beside me on a motorcycle and asked for directions to an old, dilapidated warehouse near there. Surprisingly, I actually knew where it was since I walked by it coming home from school. I told her they had closed it because it was unsafe, but she said she was just meeting someone there; she wasn't actually going in."

"She was meeting me and Henry there as a rendezvous point," Magnus smiled slightly, "and then we were going in."

"I told her where to go and she thanked me and sped off on that motorcycle of hers."

"Sounds like Ashley," Magnus laughed shakily.

YEAR 2, DAY OF SECLUSION #408

I was flipping through Brisingr for the millionth time, memorizing chapter four, 'Divergence.'

"As it turned out," I recited, "Eragon required several minutes to restore Saphira to her former health. Her injuries were severe enough that in order to complete his spells, he had to empty the belt of Beloth the Wise of energy and, after that, draw upon Saphira's own vast reserves of strength. Whenever he shifted from a larger wound to a smaller one, she protested that he was being foolish and would he please leave off, but he ignored her complaints, much to her growing displeasure. Afterward, Eragon slumped, tired from the magic and fighting. Flicking a finger toward—"

"You know," Magnus interrupted me, "You could be memorizing something useful."

"Like what?" I asked.

"The Periodic Table," she suggested.

"Only crazy people memorize the Periodic Table," I protested incredulously.

"Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Chlorine, Argon, Potassium, Calcium, Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Gallium, Germanium, Arsenic, Selenium, Bromine, Krypton, Rubidium, Strontium, Yttrium, Zirconium, Niobium, Molybdenum, Technetium, Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Silver, Cadmium, Indium, Tin, Antimony, Tellurium, Iodine, Xenon, Cesium, Barium, Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, Hafnium, Tantalum, Tungsten, Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum, Gold, Mercury, Thallium, Lead, Bismuth, Polonium, Astatine, Radon, Francium, Radium, Actinium, Thorium, Protactinium, Uranium, Neptunium, Plutonium, Americium, Curium, Berkelium, Californium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Lawrencium, Rutherfordium, Dubnium, Seaborgium, Bohrium, Hassium, Meitnerium, Darmstadtium, Roentgenium, Copernicium, Ununtrium, Ununquadium, Ununpentium, Ununhexium, Ununseptium, and Ununoctium," she listed off, "So are you saying I'm crazy?"

"Wow," was all I could say. She picked up the notebook and pen from the table. She drew the periodic table and spent the better part of an hour filling in all the information.

"Study it," she commanded as she handed it to me. It was filled out neatly in Magnus's elegant script. I looked up to see if she was serious. Apparently so. I sighed and pulled the notebook toward me.

YEAR 2, DAY OF SECLUSION #564

"So if we're living another hundred eleven years before we reach our time, how old does that make us?"

"I'll be two hundred seventy-three by then," she laughed, "but then again, I'm just reliving my life."

"So I'll be a hundred twenty-nine year old who looks sixteen?"

"Well," Magnus said, "Nikola was doing some research into that a while back. 1986, I think."

"What did he find out?"

"He was researching vampire aging. Vampires dominated the earth thousands of years ago, but as you can see, Nikola has remained very much the same age in physical appearances. He was wondering how they aged. It was inconceivable that they were born as adults; they wouldn't fit through the birth canal. Through the use of many ancient writings, he came up with a theory, nicknamed the Vampiris Immortales Theory. He reasoned that vampire children could stop their aging at will, as could adults. Once you aged, though, you couldn't go back."

"You mean if I don't figure out how to stop myself from aging I'm going to be an old woman by the time we get back?"

"Unfortunately, yes. On a happier note, you have 4-6 years before there are any large changes in appearances to your body. You'll figure it out, don't worry."

YEAR 4, DAY OF SECLUSION #1523

"Memorized that all yet?" Magnus asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Okay," she said, "Chemical symbol Na."

"Sodium."

"He."

"Helium."

"At."

"Amanda Tapping?" I asked with a grin, "No, I know it's Astatine, go on."

"More reactive elements are generally on which side to the periodic table?"

"The left, the exception to which is the Halogens, which are in group 17: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine."

"Well done, Tayla," she told me. I smiled. Magnus rarely gave praise lightly.

YEAR 5, DAY OF SECLUSION #1973

"Tayla," Magnus asked me one morning as we sat at the table observing the sun starting to peek out through the trees. Golden sunlight seeped in through the open door.

"Mmm?"

"What do you think we should do about the United Nations Liaison?"

"Are they that much of a threat?" I asked, glancing at her.

"We know how they will react," Magnus pointed out, "Hollow Earth abnormals have breached the surface. You know Lilian Lee, the first thing she's going to want to do is send in the military!"

"True," I agreed, taking a sip of tea.

"But what can we do about it...?" Magnus pondered.

YEAR 10, DAY OF SECLUSION #3741

"Do you consider yourself a good judge of character?" I asked Magnus at breakfast one morning.

"Well, I've had over a hundred years of practice; why?" she asked.

"What do you think of Lía?" Magnus thought a minute. I relaxed back in my chair. I was used to long lapses; they happened often. If there was one thing I got from this, it was patience. Most likely I'd lose it though as soon as we got back to the Sanctuary and started doing things. Magnus finally spoke.

"She's a nice girl. Bit too fashion-centered, but her personality is good." I raised her eyebrows.

"You may be an excellent judge of character, but let me tell you, that is not what she is like."

"What?" Magnus frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, she acts all nice and polite around you and Will, but she treats the rest of us, Nikola included, like scum. She likes to seem all helpful and stuff around you, but as soon as you give her the work and leave the room one of us has to do it."

"How could she make you do it?"

"Well, it's kind of like blackmail; she knows that the security camera caught this video of...yeah, never mind."

"Of?" Magnus prompted.

"Okay, so you know those super expensive new poisonous crystal thingies you gave Henry to build that new weapon?"

"Yes..."

"And remember how you told us to be very careful with it and told us not to break it and instructed us how to clean it up if we did? Well, Henry was inserting it and Kate jostled his arm and fell on the floor in pieces. We couldn't remember how you said to dispose of it. I don't think any of us were really listening. We tried—"

"Its structure becomes very weak once broken," Magnus said, "It'll shatter into a million pieces!"

"Yeah, we found out," I replied, "I tried cleaning it up by scooping the poisonous shards into the garbage, but they broke even further and got everywhere. So Lía had something on all of us."

"How'd you eventually clean it up?" Magnus asked reasonably.

"I got the vacuum cleaner," I answered. Magnus smiled at my inventivity.

"You're a lot like Nikola, you know that right?" she asked.

"...I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."

YEAR 17, DAY OF SECLUSION #6346

"I've figured it out," Magnus said, setting down her fork.

"Oh?" I asked.

"The Sanctuary Network has put too much power in government hands," she said. I gestured for her to go on. "I think we're deluding ourselves."

"How so?" I broke a roll in half.

"How much real power do we have?" Magnus asked, obviously expecting an answer.

"Well, with the ten thousand contacts on your phone-"

"Which James chucked in the fire," Magnus pointed out. I acknowledged that with a nod.

"You're telling me you didn't have all that backed up?" I asked incredulously.

"My contacts are private and many don't want themselves known!" Magnus countered.

"You run the best medical and technical facility in the world—you have Henry for God's sake—and you didn't feel secure enough to back up your contacts?"

"Wherever did you see my contacts, anyway?" Magnus asked.

"The bank heist, I accidentally hit the button," I told her.

"Accidentally?" she asked, giving me a look.

"Believe it or not, yes," I said, "Please tell me you had all those backed up."

"Tayla, you are so gullible," Magnus said, smiling at my indignant expression. "Now, back to the original problem. How much power does the Sanctuary Global Network have?" I thought about it.

"Not much," I agreed.

"Exactly," Magnus said, "But what can we do about it?"

YEAR 21, DAY OF SECLUSION #7680

"It's my fault," Magnus said suddenly, causing me to cut myself with the knife.

"Ow!" I clenched it tightly in my other hand until it healed, "Sorry, what?"

"It's my fault," she repeated.

"What do you mean?" I asked, resuming stripping the bark off this piece of wood.

"Have you ever heard the expression 'haste makes waste'?"

"Of course," I answered, shaving off another sheet of wood.

"Many of my decisions have led us to this predicament," she said, "The first and foremost being 'killing' Adam Worth. After, the king gave us what he'd promised even though we'd rudely declined the offer. That was the start of the Sanctuary becoming entangled in the government."

"It was inevitable," I said.

"Was it? We were deeper immersed through the years through my hasty decisions."

"You couldn't have survived without funding and support," I told her.

"It's nice that you have so much faith in us."

YEAR 111, DAY OF SECLUSION #40,542

We have now relocated fully to the United States, the end to our seclusion nearing its finale. We have established ourselves with a small two-story house a good twenty miles away from Old City. It was a place neither of us can recall ever visiting, so the chances we meet our former selves is low. I am no longer living in an apartment by myself, and Magnus is back from her worldly travels—and is done for good.

The New Sanctuary is nearly complete and Magnus was delighted when she first laid eyes on it. It is the pinnacle of environment friendly human resources and Praxian technology. There is no access hatch from the old Sanctuary, as the government is sure to thoroughly search the premises—or what is left of them after she blows it up. It's finalized now. We're really going to do it. Go rogue, disappear from the prying eyes of countries all over the world.

Most of the house is filled with collections of items still needing to be moved to the new site. Once it's done, we'll live there for the rest of our waiting time, as it'll reduce the footprint we leave so close to home. As our time gets closer, staying unnoticed and under the radar grows more important and harder to do.

A good corner of my room is filled with new, untouched books for the library. Her old one could've used some modern, for pleasure reading material. There are close to two hundred volumes in there, from children's books to teenage novels. Hidden in all that are all seven seasons of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ and all five of _Angel_. They were banned from the Sanctuary by Magnus early on, since Nikola found them ridiculous and very insulting. Though I don't exactly agree with the common and callous slayage of vampires in the shows, it was a childhood favorite of mine. I think I'll just slip it in with all of the other stuff unnoticed.

Is it strange to you that I remember all the little details like this? It's all we live for. Without the thought of our old life, we would never have survived all these years. Every detail, every abnormal, every expression on a friends' face is precious. We must hold these things close to our hearts, or we may lose our focus—or worse, the will to continue living.

I brushed my hand across the top copy of _Buffy_, then headed down the stairs. Magnus was seated at the small kitchen table, her hands clasped around a cup of tea. She looked up as I entered, but her eyes remained dull.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pouring myself a glass of milk from the fridge.

She was silent for a moment. "I've been thinking about this day for the last hundred years, and I still don't know what I'm going to do."

"What's today?" I questioned. "…Oh. You…you can't. You can't disrupt the timeline."

"She's my daughter."

"You chose the abnormals and your life's work last time, and your reasons haven't changed," I told her. "Ashley died saving you, and I know that's how she would have wanted to go."

"I feel…I feel like I've been given a second chance, and I don't want to let it pass by me." She looked up at me as I sat down across from me.

"If we can think of a way that doesn't disturb what's supposed to happen, then I guess…but it would be almost impossible. You were there, you watched."

"I have thought about this, for a long time. The only thing I could think of…well, you're not Henry."

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, think about it. We have a facility in which she is safe and hidden. We have medical supplies and tranquilizers that will keep her there. We may have the Praxian technology to get her out."

"To which technology are you referring?"

"And that's where I need Henry. You barely figured out a few of the medical devices, power supplies, and the transport thing."

"Well, let's assume that we have to take her right as she's teleporting. She has to be teleporting somewhere."

"But she would…disintegrate immediately."

"Not if we disable the EM shield for a few seconds."

"And then alter the log that Henry and I look at," Magnus agreed. "Do we have anything that can act as a…_receptor_ for a teleport?"

"I don't know. I could try sticking together a few of the Praxian devices…how much time do we have before the Cabal vampires attack our Sanctuary?"

"A few weeks. They'll attack at midnight on February 7th."

"That's only two Saturdays from now," I realized. "We should get to the New Sanctuary as soon as possible. Do you have anything going on tonight?"

Magnus shook her head and grabbed the car keys from the hook on the wall. "What's the state of construction there right now?"

"It's ready to be lived in, if that's what you're asking," I answered. "The transportation ball and the western habitats are still in the works. Our power sources aren't as potent as your father's; it is taking a lot longer than anticipated."

"But at least it works," Magnus replied. "Okay. I'm putting this house up for sale, so you can start moving anything we're keeping into the car. It won't take more than, one, two trips."

"Agreed." I opened the closet under the stairs and pulled out several cardboard boxes. I began stacking cups and plates from our cupboards into it. The old Sanctuary had that stuff, of course, but it would look odd if it all were to disappear one day.

YEAR 111, DAY OF SECLUSION #40,556

February 7, 2009

We were all set. We had no idea if it would work as intended, but we were ready. It was only yesterday that Magnus and I realized that Ashley's Cabal minion will come along for the ride. That's why it'll be my job to fend her off. Meanwhile, Magnus will be working at two computers—one interfacing with Henry's at the Sanctuary that will manipulate the EM shield and the recorded data, the other using our EM shield to prevent Ashley from escaping. On the stand next to her was a replica of the fatal weapon Nikola designed to be used on the extra Cabal vampire. When we first completed it, I wondered if it would destroy me as well, but I wasn't about to test it on myself.

The actual receptor looks like a big satellite dish. I control the switch turning it on and off. On a third monitor is the current security camera feed for the main lab. When Ashley reverts to her normal self for that small period of time, I will turn it on, and when she arrives, I'll switch it off before anything else comes through. It's lucky that our new facility is so close to the old Sanctuary, we can "beam" her right here.

That was the plan. At exactly ten minutes to midnight, we both sat motionless in our assigned chairs, hearts racing. Over our head, a clock blared red, counting down to the final, most crucial moments. Magnus watched the camera feed almost hungrily.

"Here we go," she warned as Ashley teleported into the main lab. On-screen Ashley looked at her mother, catching the other's arm. She whispered something. I flipped the switch and a low hum filled the room. Ashley teleported herself and the other vampire. The noise grew until it was almost deafening. There was a flash of red light and the two appeared in our room. Flipping the switch again, I sprang up, knocking them both to the ground before they could make sense of their location. Hopefully this place's new security measures would prevent the Cabal from seeing what was happening.

Together they threw me off into the back wall, their eyes red and full of fury. A blue beam shot out from Magnus's weapon, hitting the unwanted one in the back and bursting her into a billion fiery pieces. I tackled Ashley, the two of us rolling across the floor in a mad scramble. She was strong, but I was second generation. I was stronger.

I shoved her backward against the point in the wall. She gasped as it sank into her flesh, almost going straight through her back and out through her stomach. She hung there for a second as she massive amount of tranquilizer took effect; it was more than a quart of the strongest stuff Magnus had. It would have killed a normal human instantly. Slowly Ashley sagged and sank to the ground. Magnus ran forward, taking her daughter up in her arms. We transferred her into an infirmary room bed. I placed the titanium manacles around her wrists while Magnus inserted the IV into her arm. She started the tranquilizer dosage again.

Now that we had her, we had as much time as we needed to fix her.

YEAR 111, DAY OF SECLUSION #40,558

Two days later, Magnus had run a multitude of tests on Ashley. I looked up as she walked in and sat down. Her demeanor had drastically changed, she seemed content. It was good to see her so happy.

"How goes it?" I asked.

"I have a plan for treatment and a time estimate for full recovery." She smiled.

"And?"

"Using our new technology, there is a way using your blood and Nikola's vampire-creation research to isolate the parts of vampire DNA that isn't Ashley's. I've designed a non-pathogenic virus to insert her original DNA into every cell of her body, but the process will be slow."

"So she's not going to keep her powers?"

Magnus shook her head.

"How long will it take?"

"Well, by my estimate, three years and three months."

"That long?"

"We have to go slow or it'll overwhelm her system. She should be conscious and herself for the last half or quarter year. That's two years on our own, then we have to rejoin the Sanctuary and Will and Henry. Soon after that she'll be awake and we won't have to visit as often to administer to her. And six months after that, she'll be all better." Magnus smiled again at the thought.

"Good." I nodded.


	31. Uprising: Whispers Behind My Back

**Sorry, sorry, sorry, I know it's been a long time. I decided to skip Tempus II as some of you haven't seen the end of the season yet (and won't until the DVD comes out, although I might not be able to wait that long). So here's Uprising! And yes, with a little refinement Untouchable is ready to go too.**

Previously on Sanctuary…

KATE: Abnormals are erupting everywhere. We're on a full global alert. The military wants to destroy them. The Sanctuaries are in disarray.

**TV-PG LV**

**Chapter 30: Uprising – Whispers Behind My Back**

October 24, 2011

"I have _always_ wanted to do this," I told Magnus.

"Concentrate," she muttered, gazing upwards at the tall gate separating us from the Sanctuary grounds.

"Sorry," I said with a grin. "Just great to be home."

"Only if we don't die on the way over," Magnus muttered.

"Relax and just don't touch the bars," I told her.

"Electrocution," she muttered, "Not my preferred way to die."

"How long do you think I have to pull you up?"

"I honestly don't know. I'm not the vampire."

"Well, Nikola lasted about two minutes according to you when you were retrieving the Source Blood," I said slowly, "And this is about half the amount of current, yes?"

"Yes," she answered, "But it wasn't Nikola's first time with electricity."

"Three minutes then," I agreed, looking up at the gate.

"Three minutes," she agreed.

"Rope?" I asked. She passed it to me silently. "Well, here goes nothing." I gingerly placed one hand on the wall, pulling it back as my whole body jumped and tingled.

"Tayla?" Magnus asked concernedly.

"I'm okay." I jumped up, grabbing the bars for dear life. I was about half way there. I could feel the electricity flowing through my body and my arms occasionally jerked uncontrollably as I doggedly moved upward. I reached the top panting heavily, beads of sweat forming on my forehead.

"Okay," I said, rising slowly to stand, teetering slightly on the two-inch flat bar running along the length of the fence. It was only electric on the outside half, however, with an insulating material between it and the other side. You could climb it to get out, but not back in.

I took the rope out of my mouth and shook it to unravel it, the knots we had tied spilling downwards toward her. The end fell at waist level to Magnus and she wasted no time climbing on top of the first knot. I stepped out onto the electrified part of the bar again, keeping her far enough away from the fence so she wouldn't accidentally hit it as she swayed back and forth slightly. How weird this would look to a common passerby. Two women sneaking over a high gate in the daytime.

"Tayla, I'm ready," Magnus called, slightly breathless. Now to the hard part. I leaned over a little bit more and Magnus's hands tightened on the rope as she dropped a little. I took a deep breath and heaved upward, hoping we had simulated and practiced this enough to not have her knock into me and have both of us plummet to the ground. She swung over the tops bar and swung back towards the safe side of the fence. Magnus smacked against it with a jolt and immediately began climbing down. I followed her after dropping the rope to the stones below.

When I reached close to the ground, I just jumped off and landed heavily.

"See?" I asked though I was breathing hard, "Easy peasy."

"Means we need to update our security," Magnus told me, with a last glance back at the gate. "Ouch, that metal was hot from the sun." We both forward at the Sanctuary.

"Wow, I've forgotten how big it is," I said with a smile.

"Catacomb entrance is over there," she told me, pointing.

"I know," I grinned, "We both used it when _you_ were running from the law for the murder of the Big Guy." She laughed as we headed for it.

"As long as nobody looks out the window now, we're in the clear," Magnus said, shading her eyes. At the entrance, I pushed the door open quietly and we slipped inside. Once we reached the residential floors, we split off. I quickly changed and met her just outside her room. Above us, a door opened and closed. We both stared up at the ceiling silently.

"Okay, just a second,_ Hollow Earth_?" a certain Abby Corrigan asked.

"Yes," Will replied patiently.

"As in hollow _Earth_?"

"That's what I said."

"Like under the Earth, but hollow?"

"We really need to move on here," he said.

"Why have you never told me about this? Of course, you couldn't. Wait—you've been there?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Only once," Will answered quickly.

"Oh, my God, Will!"

"Abby. Focus."

"Okay, well, it's not like taking a business trip to Baltimore. It's Hollow—Focus," she stopped.

"Villanova just dropped a massive ordnance air burst on the Chilean Caldera. Looks like half the abnormals are either wounded or dead," Will explained.

"Ho…ly…crap."

"Yeah. You can bet he's gearing up for one of the other two Calderas next," Will told her.

"The U.N.?" she asked.

"I'm completely shut out. Same thing goes for the other feds, spooks, and coverts."

"Magnus?" Abby asked.

"Missing in action," he answered.

"Nice to know they're worried about us," Magnus whispered. I grinned.

"Okay. Can't Henry hack his way through?"

"He's trying to negotiate from within the camp. I need access into Villanova's system. If I can find out what he's planning, then maybe I can do something to stop him."

"So you called me? I'm no Henry," she said.

"I've got 'Henrys' in 17 cities around the world. Magnus always has an ace in the hole. You're mine," he told her.

"I'm flattered. I think."

"Besides, I don't want you to use a computer. Nobody's taking my call because I'm the enemy now, but you're one of them," he hinted.

"Not exactly high up on the food chain, though. I'm in the basement office, remember? The one with no windows between the coke machine and the restrooms?"

"You're FBI. You know people. Come on, Ab. If I can just drive a wedge in somewhere, find out what Villanova's up to…" he trailed off. "What? What's that?"

"Trevor," she answered.

"Trevor? Who's Trevor?" Will asked.

"A friend from South Africa. Spent some time in the bureau before transferring to Interpol out of Paris."

"Great. Can you get ahold of him?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I've got his personal cell number."

"Oh?"

"Well, uh, we dated for a short time," she said distractedly, "Hey, Trev? It's Ab. Yeah…me too. Umm, I need a favor."

"Come on, hurry," I told Magnus, "They're preoccupied." We sneaked up the stairs and crept into a spare room.

"Sure you don't want to tell Will that we're here?" I asked.

"No, Will can handle it. I need to be able to study this from the outside, without any interference."

"Okay, then I'm going to go look at what's going on in the camp."

"Stay—"

"—out of sight," I finished for her, "I know. I've only been doing it for the last hundred and thirteen years."

Magnus sat down at the computer, brushing a wisp of hair behind her ear as she got to work. I exited the room, running lightly down the stairs. I took a car from the end of the garage and backed out, the garage having been open since we'd been so busy, going in and out of it so much. I parked a safe distance away from the camp and started walking towards a side gate that I thought would be less busy. There was a slight crowd, but through it I could easy see Lía, Alfred, Danaka, and George standing side by side. As if he sensed my presence, George jumped, startled, and looked straight back at me. He spoke a few words in a low voice to the others and they met me a little ways from the gate. So much for staying unnoticed. But how the hell was I supposed to know George would (or could!) sense my presence?

"They are so dead!" Lía exclaimed in a quiet but angry voice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Lotus Defense Guys or the abnormals?" I asked.

"Both!"

"Why this time?" I said resignedly.

"The abnormals! They're Praxian! What more do you need? And the Lotus Defense guys won't let me in to help them kick some ass!"

"Here we go," I muttered under my breath.

"Oh, you are so insufferable, Juliana," Lía scoffed, flicking her hair. "You are too young to know what it means to be a Sanguine Vampiris." Too young at one hundred twenty nine? More like she was. "You dishonor the species. I think the Cabal made the wrong choice in specimen!" With that, she turned and sprinted towards the shrinking space between the two gates.

"Lía, no!" My eyes blazed with anger. Not for the insults, but for what she was about to do. We all turned in unison to watch her as she ran straight for the closing gates, vaulted high over them, her teeth gleaming in the sunlight. She landed on the other side and immediately sliced open the chest of one Hollow Earth abnormal with her claws.

"Lía! Damn it, no!" Alfred yelled, already in motion. He executed a flip bring him to the gates and somersaulted over it, landing on his feet on the other side. He shielded her with his body and the dart embedded itself in his chest. He sank to the concrete, yanking it out of himself. Pain was building in my head.

"Poison," Alfred whispered, and then in an even softer voice, "I love…you, Lía…" His head slipped from her hands, landing on the ground with a thump. We were all just watching, frozen in place, vampire and Hollow Earth abnormal alike. Lía pressed her hand to his neck, feeling desperately for a pulse.

"Juliana…Tayla…help him! He's not dead, help him, please…" she broke down in sobs. Suddenly, Danaka, beside me, screamed. It pierced through the air, bestowing fear in everyone that heard it. Lía looked at me. There was only one thing that could make Danaka scream like that. Alfred was dead. Immediately, the pain in my head ceased.

Lía whipped her head around to glare with mounting fury at the Hollow Earth abnormals. "You!" she hissed, getting up from her crouched position, "You! You killed my ancestors, you come up onto our land, and you kill my boyfriend! You will pay with your blood." She attacked ruthlessly, whirling and swiping with a single minded ferocity. Before I could do anything, Danaka charged for the gates, vaulting over them easily and landing on her feet in the other side. Lía had killed all the abnormals near her. Other Hollow Earth abnormals closed in. Between them was Danaka.

"Stop," Danaka commanded coldly and everyone froze. The abnormals backed away and Lía, breathing heavily, glared at her retreating enemies. All of a sudden, one of them charged forward toward Lía, who had her back turned away. He raked his spikes down her side and she crumpled to the ground. My headache built up again, transmitting Lía's condition to me. Danaka didn't scream this time though. She turned, slowly, like a cat knowing it has its prey trapped. She fixated her luminous blue eyes on the abnormal and then closed them. In a single movement, everyone—abnormal, vampire, Lotus Defense, everyone—within three yards of her collapsed on the ground.

With a roar, the Hollow Earth abnormals far enough away to be unaffected stampeded towards Danaka, kneeling next to Lía. They dived at her, smothering her in a writhing mass of bodies under which nothing could be seen.

Just then, George, the sensible one, stiffened next to me. He started forward, pain etched on his face. I pulled him back but he ripped himself out of my hands and climbed up the gate like a cat, jumping straight down onto the mass of bodies.

"It's too late!" I screamed at him. I had no headache. Danaka was already dead. But he didn't know that. Danaka and I had been given that power. One of the abnormals turned, his arms revealing themselves as praying mantis pincers. George fell onto it, and the talon went straight through his heart. There was no pain. He had died instantly.

Without thinking, I turned and ran. Ran back to the Sanctuary, jumped straight over the gate, ran into the house, straight up the stairs, and into the study. I was in shock.

"Tayla!" Magnus exclaimed.

"Lía…and Danaka…and Alfred…and all of them! They're dead!" I cried out. Magnus looked stricken, putting her arm around me.

"Nos must amitto vivo en," she said softly.

"Nos must amitto vivo en," I whispered back dully.

**~~o0o~~**

"I know, Doug, I can't believe I forgot my notes. Yeah, really. Umm, so anyways, right, I'm speaking at this, uh…Agency retreat in Virginia tonight, and without my data, I just—no, no, no, I just need the pass codes to the Quantico cloud. Yeah, I know, I know, but, come on, it's me…Yup. I'm ready. Shoot. Okay, you are the best. Bye." There was a long pause. "Is it working?" Abby asked.

"They got the passcodes to the Quantico cloud," I relayed to Magnus.

"Uh…yeah. So, Doug, huh?"

"Hey, one degree of separation," Abby replied.

"Trevor at Interpol. Juan or _Juan_ at the CIA. Doug at the NSA…"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Yeah, it just…seems like you've dated a lot of guys," Will said.

"Okay, that is sexist. Can't a girl have male colleagues who also happen to be her friends?"

"Yes, I suppose they can."

"Okay, so...?"

"Well, thanks to your multifaceted past, I've been able to cobble together intel from most of the agencies that Villanova's working with. This is a fast-track requisition for a cluster of cruise missiles originally headed for Iraq."

"Re-routed to a base in Turkey."

"Within easy striking distance of the Indonesian Caldera."

"His next target."

"Not if I can stop him first."

"Missiles rerouted from Iraq to Turkey," I told Magnus, opening my eyes.

"The Indonesian Caldera…" Magnus realized.

"Yeah, Will's got some sort of plan, I think, though."

**~~o0o~~**

"See this?" Will was asking, "The words 'maintenance facility' keep popping up. Is that Halliburton-speak for something?"

"Beats me," Abby replied.

"Damn it, every time I try to access. See, look at this."

"Even the backups?"

"Backups? What backups?"

"Every document pertaining to Lotus's strategic plans, no matter how top secret, is backed up. In fact, even the backups have backups. But seeing as we've already snuck into a tiny, wee corner of the cloud, I wonder…Gotcha. This is feed from the Wyoming server farm."

"You are brilliant," Will told her.

"Yes, I am. Quarantine protocols. Psychological profiling."

"Subject experimentation?"

"There is no way the U.N. would sanction something like this," Abby said.

"Sure they would. They're panicked just like everybody else, and they just want the problem to go away. Look at this stuff. Genetic manipulation. Hybrid trials. Medical testing…"

"Oh, my God, they can't be serious…"

"You want to bet? We're looking at the blueprint for the abnormal final solution. The abnormals that are taken alive will end up being government Guinea pigs. Think about it, who wouldn't want an army of Basilisks?" Will realized.

"The abnormal final solution," I relayed to Magnus.

"And what better spy than an empath?"

"But why stop with the Hollow Earth Abnormals? Especially when there are sanctuaries worldwide just ripe for the picking. This won't end here. This is Magnus's worst nightmare."

"Hey Will," Abby said, "Look, it's Henry."

"And a guest," Will commented.

"They've gotten in touch with Henry," I told Magnus. "And…Garris is with him!"

"Garris?" Magnus asked.

"Uh, he…he's a Hollow Earth quinterran, he gave Kate a necklace and inadvertently started a fight…" My voice trailed off distractedly.

"Nobody wants a war," Will was saying, "Certainly not us."

"And yet, many of us have been attacked, killed," Garris pointed out.

"An action taken out of ignorance and fear."

"And you do nothing to stop it."

"Believe me, I'm working on it, but I need time."

"I believe you, but my people—"

"Will's explaining to him that we weren't the ones who attacked and we don't want war…Garris says he believes us but his people don't understand."

"All I ask is that you try, for their sake," Will was telling him.

"I will speak to them again."

"Henry, we're trying to get to Lillian Lee," Will told him.

"Wait, who's 'we'? Did Magnus—"

"No. I got Abby here working her contacts. Maybe if we can put enough external pressure on the U.N.… I don't know. It's all I got left."

"All right, what can I do?"

"Intel puts the Indonesian Caldera in the crosshairs next."

"No…" Garris uttered.

"Can you buy us some time?"

"Oh, man…I might be able to uplink a scrambler signal to whatever satellite Villanova's using to ping off of. That'll blind his birds for a while. That's just a band-aid, though, Will," Henry said.

"Whatever you said, I'll take it. And soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm on it."

"Good luck, Garris," Will told him.

"Henry's going to scramble the signal to the satellite Villanova's using to ping, which should blind him for a bit," I told Magnus. "When are you going to tell them you're here?"

She just shook her head and continued clicking through the pictures of the initial eruption.

"I'm setting up a way to eavesdrop on what they're saying," Magnus said. A few minutes later, I heard Henry again, except his voice came through the computer.

"So you know it's only a matter of time before Villanova switches to another satellite."

"Can you stay one step ahead of him?"

"I'd say we bought ourselves 15 minutes, tops. Less if they're on the ball," Henry answered.

"How do we stop the second attack that fast?"

"Whoa. Dude, this is weird," Henry said.

"What?"

"Yeah, there it is again."

"What?" Will demanded.

"Somebody's eavesdropping."

"On us?" Will asked disbelievingly.

"Digitally speaking. It's like I got a piggyback on my hack."

"Who is it?"

"Hang on, just running a trace. Uh…It's you."

"Me?"

"But it can't be you. You don't know how. No offense."

"Are you saying that the breach is coming from inside the Sanctuary?"

"Dude, grab a transponder off my bench."

"What if Villanova sent in some of his goons to try and shut us down?" Abby asked.

"The thought did occur to me," Will said. Footsteps could be heard, coming closer. Will opened the door and he and Abby came into the room, guns pointed straight at us.

"What's it take to get a decent cup of tea around here?" Magnus asked.

"Where have you been?" Will asked.

"How did you get back?" Abby wanted to know.

"You know we thought you were gone, or—"

"Dead? Yes, of course you did, otherwise you would've kept looking for me. Look, I know you have questions, and I will explain, but we don't have time right now. Another attack on the Calderas is imminent," Magnus said. As if they didn't already know.

"Yeah, tell me about it. My hands are tied here," Will answered.

"Well, I've been monitoring the abnormal activity at the sites, and I've noticed something interesting. This is footage from before the first strike. Look at their movements. Notice anything?"

"What are you seeing?" Abby asked.

"Watch. If we adjust the images to compensate for the angle of viewing, in other words, turn all the cameras so they're pointing true north…" Magnus said.

"The abnormals are moving in formation," Will realized.

"The exact same formation, moving at the same time."

"In perfect sync. This flank turns left at the same time as the others, and so on and so on," Magnus agreed.

"How is that possible?" Will asked.

"Well, obviously they're being directed," Abby said.

"Yes, but how? I've been scanning all the frequencies in the area."

"There's no radio transmissions in or out."

"And yet someone, or something, is in complete control of these beings."

"Psychically. What about Worth?" Will asked.

"He died long before this happened," Magnus said offhandedly.

"Then who?"

**~~o0o~~**

"Dr. Zimmerman, I do not appreciate—Dr. Magnus," Dr. Lee said, slightly surprised.

"Lillian," Magnus greeted her.

"So that explains why I've been getting bombarded with subcommittee inquiries, foreign oversight regulators, the Russian President—"

"Actually, the credit for all of that goes to Will," Magnus told her brightly.

"Uh, with a little help," Will said, gesturing to Abby next to him.

"And you are?"

"Abby Corrigan, FBI," Abby said proudly.

"I don't know the name," Dr. Lee said dismissively.

"Well, now you do," Abby said bravely.

"Dr. Lee, please listen very carefully to what Will's about to tell you," Magnus requested.

"Villanova's next target is the Indonesian Caldera," Will told her.

"I already know that," Dr. Lee answered.

"Yes, but what you and he both don't know is that five miles below the surface is a Basilisk feeding ground. You drop a cruise cluster into that Caldera, it'll create a chain reaction, rip right through Hollow Earth's geothermal system. We're talking a massive seismic reaction on a global level."

"Such a cataclysm would give the abnormal armies the foothold they need to conquer the surface," Magnus cut in.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Dr. Lee asked.

"Because we only learned about this ourselves minutes ago when we discovered Fallon alive at the camp. You and Villanova are being played. Please, give us control of the situation. We will work with the abnormals, help them transition to a provisional government to ensure peace, but we've got to do it right now, otherwise Villanova's gonna pull the trigger."

"I'll tell the General to stand down immediately."

"Thank you."

"And then we're all going to have a very long talk."

"Ah," Magnus said. Dr. Lee disconnected. "Well done, you. And you," Magnus congratulated them.

"We do make a good team," Abby agreed.

"Yes. Yes, we do. You, me, and, uh, all your friends," Will said.

"It's good to be home," Magnus said with a smile at me.

**~~o0o~~**

"She'll be dealt with by a tribunal of her peers," Garris was telling Kate. Everything was calmer now. I was back in the camp, helping an injured abnormal to one of the waiting trucks.

"So you're going back under?" Kate asked him.

"This is not our home," he said simply.

"But your home may be lost."

"Then we will build another, of our own making, with our own government. Please believe me when I say I only wanted the best for our people, for all our people," Garris said.

"I know. Your heart was in the right place," Kate said, placing her hand over it.

He gently moved it to the other side. "Actually…it's here. And I have two." I cracked a smile. "Kate, I really don't know how to—"

"I'm coming with you," she told him, "Straight from the boss. Magnus says you're right, that Fallon is just the tip of a way larger iceberg, and there are loads more bad guys down there that we need to deal with."

"Are you certain? It won't be easy for you," he warned.

"Well, the rest of the team can handle things topside. I'm on Hollow Earth detail." They both smiled.

**~~o0o~~**

"It looks like Garris has managed to convince most of the abnormals to return underground," Will told Magnus.

"Most?" she asked.

"I know, it sounds like spin."

"Well, we both know not all of them will go back. The most fanatical ones would rather die than return to Hollow Earth," she agreed.

"An abnormal insurgency, that's great news."

"We can handle it. Besides, it could have been much worse. You know, you really did a very fine job in my absence. Perhaps you'd like to continue as Sanctuary head?" she teased.

"No. No, no, thank you. Maybe someday, but not now, and by the way, you both can stop avoiding the question at any time."

"What question?" Magnus and I asked at the same time.

"What the hell happened to you? How did you get back from Hollow Earth? Druitt didn't bring you, and how did you escape the blast that took out Praxis?"

I just smiled.

"You know, that's more than one question," Magnus pointed out.

"Magnus…you were out of communication for hours."

"More like…years, actually," she confided.

"Years?" Will asked.

"One hundred thirteen, to be precise," Magnus told him.

"I need to be sitting down for this, don't I?" Will asked.

"Mmm, with a—a '56 Bordeaux, I should think. Shall we?" she asked.

"Don't tell me. It's a long story."

"Ah, you have no idea," Magnus said as the elevator doors closed.

**~~o0o~~**

I was walking down the corridor when I heard Kate's voice. "Hundred and thirteen years alone with Helen Magnus...that's gotta do weird stuff to you," Kate said, staring out the window at the blinking lights of Old City. I slid back into the shadows. She was talking to Will, who was standing next to her, also looking out.

"Like the accent," Will agreed.

"She's a lot different now," Kate said.

"Is she?" Will asked, looking at Kate.

"Her confidence level has spiked," Kate said, turning away from the view to look at Will.

"Well, think of it as a hundred year employee training seminar," Will said.

"And mother daughter bonding, don't forget," Kate pointed out.

"She calls her mom once in a while now, have you heard?" Will asked.

"Mom? Surprised it's not mum," Kate replied. Will shrugged.

"American habits are hard to break."

"Yeah, guess so," Kate said, looking out the window at the lights of Old City again.

"Those are just small exterior changes though. Inside, she's still Tayla," Will told her.

"How do you know?"

"Psychiatrist," Will said, gesturing to himself.

"Right."

"Well, are you off to Hollow Earth?" Will asked after an uncomfortable lapse in conversation.

"Yep. Just finished packing my bags," Kate told him.

"Have fun eating the mushrooms."

"Are they bad?" Kate asked.

"Bad? Bad? They're disgusting!" Will exclaimed. "They're like...like...spoiled sushi dunked in sour milk covered in slices of bittermelon with a surprise center of cherry-flavored cough syrup!"

"Wow," Kate said, "Eloquent description, William. Avoid mushrooms…check. Oh, and you gotta remind me not to follow in your footsteps and turn into a lizard."

**~~o0o~~**

"Hey," I greeted Kate.

"Hey," she replied, looking down into her bag. "Do you think I need to bring sunscreen to Hollow Earth because of the light there? Even though there's no sun that deep underground?"

I laughed. "I'm sure they'll provide it for you if you do need it; our kind might not be any good down there. So, do you like being on Hollow Earth duty?" I asked.

"…It has its perks," she said carefully with a small smile.

"Garris?"

"Yeah…"

"We're all going to miss you," I told her.

She smiled. "I'll miss you guys too."

**~~o0o~~**

"Are you all packed?" Magnus asked, opening the front door to let Kate out.

"Honestly, Doc, you've asked me that, like, three times now," she told her.

"I know. But there's so much riding on this mission going well that I just…"

"Hey, it'll be fine," Kate promised. "I mean, Worth's dead. What could possibly go wrong?" We all laughed at the thought of anything _not _going wrong.

"I don't know when we'll be able to contact you," Magnus said, "I'm sorry this was so hasty, but we needed to get you down there as soon as possible, before Villanova gets a chance to regroup and organize things."

"It's perfectly all right." Kate turned to me. "I'll write as soon as I can. Tell you everything!"

"And I'll visit," I promised with a smile. We hugged each other before she stepped onto the step, Will, Henry, and the Big Guy waving from behind us. She waved back and then departed, swinging her large backpack over one shoulder. Little did I know I'd be seeing her again, very, very soon.

**So! Ending the Cabal vampire story arc, although maybe a little background info will pop up somewhere. Yes, the four others are really dead. Really dead. Not Syfy dead, really, really dead. Anyway, sort of started a new idea here with Tayla descending down into Hollow Earth with Kate on some of the episodes I didn't like as much (though I loved them all!). Next chapter will start my next big story arc. Review please!**


	32. Untouchable: Interrogation

**Okay, another chapter! And I might've lied to you a bit in the last chapter…Remember how I said Lía and the others were really dead, not Syfy dead? Well, I had this new idea and I kinda need them for it. So as the author of this story, I rescind my earlier statement and pronounce them all "Syfy dead." Beginning of my new story arc:**

**TV PG L**

**Chapter 31: Untouchable – Interrogation**

October 30, 2011

The doorbell rang. Henry and I looked up. "Did the doorbell just…?" Henry asked, typing furiously at the computer. "Hey, look at this."

"Who is it?" I asked. I circled around the desk. "It's way too early for Addison and his goonies. Two days!"

"There's no one there," Henry said.

""But then…someone must have rang the doorbell…" I replied uncertainly, "…I'll go answer it."

"Henry, I need you in the main lab," Magnus's voice crackled through the radio.

I left Henry's lab and headed for the foyer. As I reached the large, sunlit room, the doorbell rang. Then it rang again impatiently. Whoever or whatever was ringing the doorbell was being very obnoxious. I opened the door and looked out. No one was there. A few cars sped by on the distant road. My gaze drifted downward to land on a small Indian girl in a light blue T-shirt and jeans.

"Where Kah-té?" she asked.

"Who?"

"Kah-té."

"I…don't know…a Kah-té," I told the little girl. "Where's your mother?" The girl shrugged, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Okay, come on," I told her, holding out my hand, "Let's find Kah-té, okay?" She willingly took my hand and stepped over the threshold.

"Who was at the door?" the Big Guy asked, coming into the room. "I was going to get it, but the elevator's broken and Henry still hasn't cleaned up that carton of glue he spilled all over the stairway."

"Huh," I replied, "Wasn't broken when I—"

The girl shrieked, yanking backwards on my hand. I turned towards the still open door, expecting to see a scary abnormal coming to snatch her away, but there was no one there. She tore herself away from me and sprinted down the hall, screaming, "Monser! Monser!"

I looked at the Big Guy. He would look like a—forbidden M word—to a little girl. I was just so used to it I never noticed anymore. He grunted unhappily. I chased the girl to where she hid, quivering in the closet, peeking through the crack between the door and the frame. The Big Guy grunted, leaving the room, swinging his feather duster as he went.

"It's okay, come on out," I told the girl. She opened the closet door a bit wider to peer out.

"Monser!"

"He's not a mon—he's gone; it's safe," I told her. She slowly pushed the door outward and stepped cautiously out. She grabbed my hand for security.

"Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Anjali," the girl replied. I reached down and picked her up. She hugged my neck as I moved toward the stairs. Maybe she was a Hollow Earth abnormal seeking shelter. Maybe she was just a lost human child. Or maybe an abnormal. But why was she left on our doorstep all alone?

"Tayla!" Henry met me after a few flights of stairs. "Who's that?"

"Don't know," I said, repositioning Anjali, "On our doorstep. Her name's Anjali."

"Is she ab—special?" Henry asked, coming closer, "Hi Anjali." Anjali just buried her face in my shirt.

"She had an unfortunate encounter with the Big Guy," I said apologetically. "Anjali, hey…nothing to be scared of, just Henry." I looked back at Henry. "Anyway, I'm going to take her to see Magnus and see if she knows where she came from. Any idea where she is?"

"Yeah, she's in her office," Henry answered with another curious look at Anjali, "Had me fix one of the abnormal cages in the main lab. It zapped me! Anyway, I'm hoping to get a free moment now…"

"Ah, sorry, Henry, but the elevator's broken," I said.

"Dam—darn it," he said with a glance at the little girl.

"And there's glue on the stairs," I grinned and continued on my way to Magnus's office. I knocked on the door before I entered. Anjali looked around with wide eyes, staring for a long time at the hand drawn picture Ashley had made when she was six hanging up on the wall above the door.

"Ah, Tayla, I need you to—" Magnus looked up, "Who's this?"

"Anjali," I replied, setting the girl down, "She was left on our doorstep."

"Interesting," Magnus said, coming nearer. Anjali clung to my hand as the strange woman came closer. "Did she say anything else?"

"Yeah, she's looking for a person named Kah-té," I replied.

"She's seems quite attached to you," Magnus murmured.

"She had a run in with the Big Guy," I answered.

"Ah." Magnus squatted down by the girl. "Anjali, will you come with me?" Anjali shook her head profusely. Magnus and I exchanged glance.

"Go on, Anjali, this is Dr. Magnus. She's not a _monser_." Magnus shot me a glance.

_Hey, I didn't say it! _I mouthed.

"Tayla, come," Anjali stated simply.

"All right," I said with a mystified look at Magnus. Why _was _Anjali so attached to me? Magnus gave a slight shrug in return. I led Anjali to the lab where Magnus gloved up and prepared a needle to draw blood. I wasn't sure this was the best idea to gain the girl's trust; she had been dropped off by herself to a strange house with Bigfoot roaming around freely in it already. But, surprisingly, Anjali was very good about the whole procedure. By the end, there had been no screaming, no kicking, no whining and Magnus had two full tubes of her blood. I think I fidgeted more than Anjali at the sight of all that fresh blood.

Magnus then shooed us away from the lab to start working so we wandered around a little while. Eventually Anjali got hungry, so I took her to the kitchen. I had no idea what species she was, so I lifted her up onto the counter and let her pull something out of the cupboard she wanted to eat. She dug around a little while, before triumphantly holding up one of Henry's bags of goldfish. I fetched a bowl and poured a bit in there for her, sticking the goldfish bag back in its spot. Just as Anjali was finishing the last crumbs, Will walked in, deeply immersed in whatever paper he was reading.

"Anything interesting?" I asked as I absentmindedly poured Anjali a glass of milk.

"Yeah, Addison wa—Who's this?" Will asked, eyeing the girl at the table.

"Don't know," I answered, "Showed up on our doorstep. Her name's Anjali."

"Hello, Anjali," Will said, "I'm Will."

"Hi Will," Anjali smiled.

"Magnus is doing the blood tests now to see if she's…special."

"She looks kind of like Kate," Will commented. Looking closer, I could see what he meant. Besides both being Indian, their faces had similar shapes as Kate had had when she was younger from that picture with her dad and the softball mitt. Their eyes were the same color too.

"Can't be," I replied, "Kate doesn't have a little sister."

"I know," Will answered, "Just commenting."

"So, Addison what?"

"Oh yeah. Addison wants to schedule it for tomorrow, a day early."

"What?"

"Exactly. I replied back for Magnus and told him—politely of course—no. I don't think he wants to give us too long to prepare."

"Did you talk to Henry?" I asked, ignoring Anjali's tugging on my hand without really thinking about it.

"Yeah, he says he needs the extra day to test the firewalls," Will answered with a shrug. "When Magnus is done in the lab, tell her I want to talk to her."

"Okay," I agreed, "But I'm probably going to have to leave Anjali with you while I talk to Magnus about her results. You seem to be the only other person she likes."

"Mmm." Will smiled at the little girl.

"Tayla?" she asked.

"Yes?" I looked down at her.

"Where's the bathroom?" I laughed, jumping up from the table to lead her off down the hall.

**~~o0o~~**

"Ah, Tayla, there you are," Magnus said, walking down the hall towards us. "Hello again, Anjali."

"Hello Dr. Magnus," Anjali replied timidly.

"Test results back?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes…"

"But?"

"You're going to need to see them."

"Okay, I'll go leave her with Will then—"

"No, Will and Henry should be present as well."

I frowned. "Since I can't very well leave her with the Big Guy, I guess she'd better come."

"That side closet room," Magnus agreed, "Give her some music to listen to or something, so she can't hear us. Do you have anything kid-appropriate?"

I gave her an exasperated look. "Of course I do. I don't listen to _all_ Katy Perry, LMFAO, and Ke$ha. Taylor Swift is clean."

Magnus smiled slightly, muttering, "The music of today…"

I took Anjali over to the little room and placed my iPod up on a high shelf where she couldn't reach it. "Do you want to listen to some music?" I asked her.

"Yes, please!" she responded.

"Okay, but you have to sit here quietly. I have to do something, but I'll be back soon, okay?"

Anjali looked around nervously but only said, "Okay."

I closed the door so only the faintest hum of "I am not the kind of girl who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion, but you are not the kind of boy who should be marrying the wrong girl" could be heard by my vampire ears.

"Okay, so what's up?" Henry asked as I entered and sat down in one of the armchairs next to Will. Magnus turned to face us, looking like she had been pondering something complicated.

"You all know we have a visitor wandering around?" Magnus asked. Will and I nodded.

"You mean the mouse in our basement?" Henry asked. We all looked at him. "I've been meaning to set traps for that thing for ages, just haven't gotten around to it," he plowed on, oblivious. "Humane traps, of course," he added hastily. He noticed our amused and slightly disdainful expressions. "Oh, you meant the girl, didn't you?" he realized, "Yeah, Anjali, what about her?"

"I did some blood tests," Magnus replied.

"And?" Will asked, "Is she an abnormal?"

"No, she's 100% human," Magnus answered carefully. "However, the machine did catch something. A match, between hers and another blood sample we had on file. I think little Anjali might be related to our Kate."

"How?" Will asked, "She doesn't have a little sister, according to Tayla."

"The DNA doesn't match close enough to be siblings," Magnus answered, "I would guess cousins. She came here looking for Kah-té. Kate."

"Uh, just one question," Henry asked, raising his hand, "How, exactly, did she get from India to our doorstep?"

"Chicago, maybe, but still," Will added, looking expectantly at Magnus.

She sighed. "I don't know."

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"There's no way to communicate with Kate yet," Magnus replied regretfully, "We've yet to come up with a plan of communication. I took a photo from when she came in the door from the security cameras and I sent the photo to the Mumbai head of house, but he doesn't think we'll find her parents that way."

"So…we're just stuck with her?" Henry asked disbelievingly.

"A small child in the Sanctuary may pose a significant problem on how it's run," Magnus agreed. "Certain precautions must be taken, much like I did with Ashley when she was little. Our biggest problem will be Addison and when we go away. She must be kept away from Addison at all times. He'll claim she's a security risk and she might accidentally spill some confidential information. Tayla, you'll need to figure a way to balance your time. He'll probably want to speak with you privately and you're also on translating-Nikola's-work-duty. He's not going to let me out of his sight and Henry will be there as well. Most likely he'll overlook you until the very end. I don't think he thinks much of a sixteen—well, according to his files, you look twenty-one now—year old working at a place like this, much less going on such a crucial mission."

I nodded.

"When Tayla's busy, Will, you're the other one she likes, so can you keep an eye on her?"

"Yeah," Will agreed.

**~~o0o~~**

"I went through the files on Addison's team. A lot of Ivy League educations, state department resumes, no marriages or kids," Will was explaining to us as we walked down the hall.

"Orphans preferred," Magnus read, "Lovely. What do we know about this Addison fellow himself?"

"He's the U.N. Security Council's top troubleshooter," Will informed us. "Harvard law, Brookings Institute, The Hague. He's advised world leaders on everything from Iraq, to Libya, to the B.P. oil spill in the Gulf."

"Wow, now he's here to deal with us."

"If he wasn't such a pit bull, I'd be flattered." I smiled.

"Mmm."

We entered the foyer just as Henry and the Big Guy were coming down the staircase.

"Terminal farm's up and running in the research lab. Are you sure you want me to give these guys complete access to our current protocols?" Henry asked.

"Bunch of strangers poking around, I don't like it," the Big Guy muttered.

"Nobody does, but it's not like we have a choice," Will pointed out.

"What about the tea with Magnus, photo op with a mermaid option?" Henry asked.

"That ain't gonna fly this time."

"Everything's changed since the calderas to Hollow Earth were breached. High-level people need reassurance that the situation is under control. You've secured the research database?" Magnus asked.

"Done. Current security and user activity are open access. The rest is behind an invisible firewall. And I'll be monitoring their traffic full time, so we'll know right away if they try anything off the hook," Henry told her.

"All secure on the residential levels? No stragglers?" she asked, turning to the Big Guy.

"Tight as a drum. Total lockdown in 40 minutes."

"Good job, everyone. Right, one more walkthrough, and we'll reconvene here at—" She stopped as the doorbell rang. We turned to stare at it. Already?

"What, an hour ahead of schedule?" Will said.

"Or another lost little girl on our doorstep?" I asked.

"No, there's no way. Gate defenses are up. There is no way he just walked to the front door." Henry clicked frantically on the tablet. "Yeah, see? Gate was opened with an approved code. Mine…"

"Well, who'd you give it to?" Will asked to a horrified Henry.

"No one. To the best of my knowledge!" Henry said. It rang again and Magnus gestured for the Big Guy to open it. We all walked towards the door. I eyed it apprehensively. The door opened to reveal Erika, Henry's girlfriend.

"Erika!" Magnus exclaimed as Henry and Will exchanged a glance, "This is a surprise."

"Hello, all. Sorry to intrude," Erika replied, pulling a small suitcase in behind her.

"Hi, honey," Henry greeted her with a kiss, "Wow, it's really good to see you. Uh…did we have plans to get together?" He looked a little worried that he'd forgotten something. Unnoticed, Anjali ran into the room. I scooped her up before she could wreck any havoc here, hoisting her onto my hip.

"I have some news that couldn't wait," Erika told Henry.

"Okay. Great," Henry said, still trying to figure it out.

"I wanted to tell you in person…"

"Good. It's just that we have this U.N. inspection team due in an hour, and I'm installing this whole new mirror array so that they can access our system without actually—"

"Henry," Magnus advised, giving him a look.

He frowned. "Stopping?" he asked. Magnus gave him a nod. "Listening," Henry said, looking at Erika expectantly. She took his hand.

"You're going to be a father," Erika said happily. Henry nodded agreeably, and then realized what she had said. We all stared at each other. Henry just looked at her, his mouth hanging open. The Big Guy giggled.

"Uh, okay," Henry said, "That's…that's great!" He smiled weakly. "Uh…wanna…come to my lab so we can talk…" He glanced at Magnus. "I mean, get some work done?" She nodded and he led her away into the elevator. Magnus shook herself and addressed the rest of us.

"Okay, you all know what you need to be doing. Will, another walkthrough with me. Tayla, you're upstairs, and you're downstairs," she told the Big Guy. "I want lockdown in five and those cages checked for _everything_ that Addison could do and that could go wrong."

"Nikola included?" I asked with a slight smile.

"Yes, unexpected vampire drop-in included," she said. "Before you go, there's still the matter of Anjali. I know you wanted to leave her with Aeya—"

"You're entrusting a cat with this important of a job?" Will asked.

"Werecat. Remember that, or you'll wake up one morning to find all your shirts shredded." Will stared at me. I blinked. "Whoa. Did I just say that?"

"That's just creepy," Will said, eyeing me, "And Aeya's not even in the room!"

"Tayla," Anjali tugged on my sleeve, "Who's Aeya?"

"She's a cat," I said, looking down at Anjali.

"I like cats," Anjali confided, looking around.

"Right there." Aeya padded in.

_Did I miss anything? _she asked.

_You know perfectly well you didn't._

_Yes, but the social custom is to ask when I'm late. _I decided to drop it. Aeya rubbed against my legs and then approached Anjali, who petted her softly on the head.

"They'll get along fine," I announced.

Magnus nodded. "All right then. I want everyone in their places before he and his team arrive."

**~~o0o~~**

"Nice digs. A little formal. If you need the name of a decorator, I know a fabulous firm in L.A. Just did James Cameron's Aspen estate," Addison, a short, bald man, said as he strode through the Sanctuary's hallways like he owned the place. He needed a good smack. Ever since he got here, he'd called Will "sport" and had deigned to call me "honey." If I had to hazard a guess, I would attribute that to that he thinks I'm too young to be working at a place like this. Obviously he didn't do his research properly. Or Henry was better than Addison's top-of-the-class, government team at hiding information.

"Did you come here to name-drop?" Will asked.

"With Helen Magnus? Come on, sport, I'd lose," Addison said. "No, I'm here to make the call on whether or not the Sanctuary continues to receive funding and support from the people who hired me. You know, the ones running the world."

"That's quite a team you've brought with you. Are they completely necessary?" Magnus asked.

"Well, if it helps, think of me as Elliot Ness, and these guys behind me? The Untouchables," he answered. I sighed exasperatedly.

"If it helps, Magnus knew the real Elliot Ness, and, just going out on a limb here,  
>that's not you," Will pointed out.<p>

"Congratulations, Sport, you win round one of 'Who Knows Who,'" Addison said sarcastically.

"I've arranged secure terminals at one of our labs. My people will be available for any debriefing you may need," Magnus informed him.

"I love it. This is Cassidy Turner, my senior technical consultant. Cass, take the team and get started."

"Absolutely," Ms. Turner said.

"Help her set up, will you, Sport? And you too, honey? I'm going to take the menagerie tour with Dr. Magnus."

"Will, Tayla, could you…please…take Ms. Turner and her team to the research lab?" Magnus requested.

"If you call me Sport once more, I'm going to knock your teeth in. Welcome to the Sanctuary. Follow me, everyone," Will said, leading them off. I smiled before covering with a blank mask. We led them to the lab Henry had set up.

When we got there, he wasn't done. But by the way Ms. Turner was eyeing his computer screen, I hope he was just stalling until Magnus got here, not fixing the firewalls.

"Sorry, it'll just be another couple of minutes," he told Will.

"It's okay, Henry. Everyone knows this was last minute," Will assured him.

"We've got all day," Cassidy said.

"Okay, that should do it," Henry said just as my—and undoubtedly his—ears picked up Magnus and Addison coming down toward us. "Oh, great, more people," he said as they walked in.

"Meet Craig Addison. U.N. Security Council liaison, and all round nice guy," Will said sarcastically.

"Henry Foss, right? I love your work," Addison said.

"Aw, thanks. I mean, whatever," Henry covered up.

"And this would be…?" he asked, gesturing to Erika.

"Erika Myers and I already don't like you," Erika replied.

"Yeah, we're, uh, together," Henry said, pulling her closer.

"Well, aren't you the lucky guy?"

"I trust everything is to your liking?" Magnus cut in.

"Cass?" Addison asked.

"Uh, well, the system is a bit archaic, but I think we can find our way around," Ms. Turner answered.

"Umm, are you sure? Because she can be a little delicate if you don't understand her mods—did you say 'archaic'?" Henry exploded.

"Whoa, ho—hold…What is all this stuff?" Will asked, gesturing to the wires, cables, and laptops Addison's team was producing out of their bags.

"Just a few adaptive peripherals. Since we're required to do the work on site, without our customized workstations," Ms. Turner explained. I looked at Magnus.

"Doc, this is so uncool," Henry complained.

"I agreed to allow your investigators short-term access to our system using our facilities, not to set up an entirely foreign network. I won't have you compromise our security, even unintentionally," Magnus said firmly. I wondered if that was a test of some kind. If it was, did we pass it?

"Make do with what they give you. Given the things they keep in the building, what choice do we have?" Addison asked. I narrowed my eyes, determined not to snap at him.

"What do you mean by that? Things we keep in the building?" Erika asked.

"It's cool, Erika," Henry tried to calm her down.

"Oh, you didn't get the tour? The place is crawling with monsters. Freaks. You know, stuff that jumps out at you—" Erika started to transform into her HAP-self.

"We're not monsters!" she cried, shoving Addison back into the wall.

"Whoa…" Henry said as he and Magnus rushed forward, pulling her back.

"Erika! Erika…"

"Just relax, just relax…" Will advised.

"So not worth it," Henry told her.

"I can see why she's your girlfriend," Addison said as he dusted off his sleeves.

"Watch yourself, dude," Henry warned.

"I take it she's a…"

"Hyper accelerated protean, like Henry. One of only a few left in the world," Magnus cut in.

"And she's not usually like this," Will added.

"I'm flattered."

"Don't be," Erika spat, "The way you judge us!"

"Okay—sweetheart…What's wrong?" Henry asked.

"I—I couldn't…I can't…" Erika said, letting loose a roar as her face half-morphed again.

"Okay, what is the deal with her?" Addison asked.

"Just give her a minute," Will said.

"Doc, something's not right," Henry uttered.

"I agree. Let's get her to isolation. Come on," Magnus told him.

"Well, I couldn't feel safer right now," Addison commented. Oh, how I wanted to slap him.

"Okay then," Ms. Turner stated, "Let's get to work. So who's the second-in-command geek?"

"Me," I sighed. "But Will probably knows more about the system, if that's what you're after."

"Mmm-hmm," she beckoned to Will with her finger, "System first, tech later."

"Honey," Addison asked. For some reason, I turned.

"Yes?"

"Could I get a hot drink?" he asked. What was I, a servant now?

"Follow me," I sighed. "Be right back." Will nodded and resumed concentrating on whatever Ms. Turner was saying.

When we reached the kitchen, the Big Guy was there, washing dishes. Addison paused in the doorway. "Is it safe to go in, or is this one going to attack me as well?" he asked. The Big Guy growled.

"What would you like?" I asked resignedly.

"Coffee," he said, a slight smirk on his face. Fast as I could, I dug around in the cupboard for Kate's secret stash of instant coffee. Quickly I made Addison some, making sure it was scalding hot before handing it to him with a bright smile.

"Not going to attack me, huh?" Addison asked, "Big, hairy brute like you."

The Big Guy made an indignant sound in his throat as Addison took a big sip of coffee, visibly struggling not to spit the scorching hot liquid out.

"Or is this the prized manservant I read so much about?" he asked. "It's a pleasure."

The Big Guy followed us back to the lab, where Addison resumed mocking Will and engaged the Big Guy in a one-sided conversation as Cassidy worked, her fingers flying over the keyboard. I helped one of the other guys navigate his way around our computer system. At some point, Addison led Will off and the Big Guy and I left to fetch Magnus and Henry.

"Addison asked for coffee," the Big Guy told her.

"Philistine," Magnus said, "I trust you did your best to make him feel welcome?"

"Yeah, I pretended I didn't know how to talk," the Big Guy answered.

"I don't suppose he fell for it."

"He started dissing the rays."

"Ooh, ouch."

"Yeah, we had words," the Big Guy muttered. Magnus met Will in the hallway. I diverted off to find Henry to come back to the lab. The Big Guy would stay with Erika for a while.

**~~o0o~~**

"You must have really interesting job fairs," Henry said to Ms. Turner, who had instructed us to call her Cassidy.

"Invitation only," she said.

"Whatever, I always figured government analyst jobs for a complete snooze fest," Henry told her.

"Not if you like beta-testing cool gear two years before people like you get it on the gray market."

"Okay, fine, but tell me it doesn't suck having a guy like Addison for a boss," Henry said.

"I believe in my work, Henry, just like you," she said, "Only mine comes with pension and health, a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, and unlimited first class air travel. Last month, I had a working dinner with Steve Jobs." _And now he's dead_, I thought savagely, _and you have no respect for him at all._

"Oh, yeah, I think I heard of him," Henry said.

"Yeah, except while you guys are sitting on your butts testing weapons that will mostly later be used to slaughter innocents, we're out there saving the world from giant spiders," I told her.

"Let me know if you ever decide to make a change. There are more than a few companies who could use a guy with your skills," she offered.

"You know, I doubt that."

"So, are you ready to give me a look at this custom system you're so proud of?" Cassidy asked.

"You have full access," Henry informed her.

"Okay, I need complete blueprints for the following weapons, a _platinum oscillating sonic disruptor_, whatever that is," she listed off.

"Uh-huh."

"Something called Magnuslinger?"

"Yup."

"And a handheld invasive scent directional detector."

"The smell-o-vator, check. And I can't help you." She looked at him. "You do realize most of these are built with an hour's lead time and a deadly abnormal on the loose?"

"So no blueprints."

"Not even a napkin sketch," Henry said, proud of himself.

"You really want me putting 'jury-rigged weapons unavailable for inspection—'"

"Oh, come on, I never said _jury-rigged_. Yeah, I guess I did."

"If you have nothing to hide, don't hide anything," she advised. Henry's phone rang. He looked down at the text message.

"Excuse me. I need 20 minutes," he said, hurrying out of the room.

**~~o0o~~**

"Okay, you guys have all the reports on these. I kind of got to get back downstairs," Henry said.

"Go ahead, Henry—" I said.

"Last I recall, Dr. Magnus put you at my disposal. You might want to look up what that means. So, these stunners have a sonic oscillator. Is that a wide or narrow beam?" she asked, peering at it.

"Adjustable."

"And what's the power supply on this one?"

"You'll have to ask Nikola Tesla, he built it," Henry answered. Cassidy looked at him disdainfully.

"Could you please take this seriously?" she requested. "Oh. You are serious."

"You people really don't get this place, do you?" Henry asked, "You're trying to do a red-tape audit on a place where the guy who invented alternating current blows in on his way through town."

I picked up the weapon, flipping open the hatch. Henry could figure this one out if he wanted to. It was one of the simplest ones Nikola had ever designed. Which was probably why he hated it so much. No challenge for his genius at all.

"Okay, well, we still need documentation. Could you get him to draw up some patent diagrams?" she asked.

"Uh-huh, yeah. I'll get right on that," Henry said sarcastically.

"Great. Thanks," she said sincerely. Henry's phone rang again. Just as he reached down to answer it, mine did as well.

"Big Guy, what's up?" I asked.

"You and Henry need to see this, right now," he replied.

"…Okay, where are you?"

"Conference room." Henry and I shut off our phones at the same time.

"Conference room," I said.

At the same time, Henry told me, "Iso lab." We looked at each other and shrugged, heading for the door, leaving Cassidy behind. When I reached the conference room, Magnus was there, sitting in an armchair, lost in thought.

"We got a problem," I said as Henry ran into the room.

"Doc, you've got to see this," Henry exclaimed. She stood up quickly and he gestured her over to the computer. I crowded around to look.

"See this?" Henry asked. "They're trying to tunnel through our firewalls. So while Cassidy was distracting me and Tayla with our missing blueprints, her people are tunneling through our firewalls. If Erika hadn't been testing her repair gremlin at that exact right moment, they might have actually gotten somewhere."

"Any details on what they were trying to access?" Magnus asked.

"Patient records. Resident inventory. The microfilm database of your father's journals. You know, call it everything."

"You did stop them?"

"Thanks to a few failsafes, yeah, but they got close."

"Oh, no harm done," Magnus said.

"What? This is an attack, Doc. Come on, the audit, the investigation, it's all just a smokescreen to get them inside so they can get their hands on your research."

"I agree."

"Let's pull the plug and kick 'em out, then," Henry suggested.

"Not just yet," Magnus told him. She turned to me. "Tayla, Addison wants to see you."

"Yeah."

**~~o0o~~**

"Please sit down, Miss…?" he consulted his file.

"Magnus," I filled him in. He looked vaguely surprised.

"Oh. Well, congratulations," he said. "Kind of young to be working at a high-tech facility like this…Can I call you Tayla?"

"Yeah…no," I said, narrowing my eyes.

He sighed. "What is it you people have against me?"

"You burst into our home, demand access to all our top-secret files, insult us all, and gripe on how the Sanctuary is run...hmm, I wonder why we all hate you," I told him.

"A real chip off the old block, aren't you?" he asked. He looked down into his folder again. "You joined the Sanctuary Network in what year, Miss Magnus?"

"2010," I replied.

"And you were…fifteen?" I nodded, crossing my arms.

"But you look what, twenty, twenty-one now?"

"You confuse appearance with age again, Mr. Addison," I said smoothly.

"So you're…"

"One hundred twenty-nine," I replied. His eyebrows shot up before he could mask his surprise. He wasn't expecting that one, that was for sure.

"And you've been with the Sanctuary for how many of those years?"

"A hundred fourteen," I replied.

"But you joined the Sanctuary on 2010?"

I gestured toward his head, imitating Nikola. "Don't hurt yourself." He scrutinized me for a few seconds and I looked calmly back at him.

"You graduated from Stanford University at the age of twenty…" he paused.

"I was really one hundred twenty-eight," I said offhandedly.

"Paid for in full by Helen Magnus herself," he commented, closing his file.

"Not so young and incapable after all?" I asked him with a sweet smile. "Now that you know, call me honey again and I'll rip your throat out."

"I'm going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer them," he said calmly.

"Sounds simple enough," I replied.

He leaned forward in his chair. "How would you rate Dr. Magnus as a mom?"

"In what universe is this relevant?" I asked.

"I'm the one asking the questions here," he said.

"Fine…um, she's great."

"Would you care to elaborate more?"

"Not really."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I'm aware of that."

He scribbled down some notes with his expensive looking gold pen. "Next question…who would you say plays the most prominent father figure in your life here?"

"Jack the Ripper," I told him, rolling my eyes.

"Haha, very funny," Addison said sarcastically.

"Nikola Tesla," I said.

"In order for me to get anything out of this interview, I need you to stay focused," he reminds me.

"A) Who says I want you to get anything out of this interview?

B) I wouldn't call it an interview, more like an interrogation and invasion of privacy.

C) I am being serious. Nikola Tesla. We've already had this talk with Cassidy."

"And you are of what species?"

"Vampire?" I offered. He didn't need to know Sanguine Vampiris vs. Sanguine Vampirisa.

"I m aware you recently went on a mission to capture the Crixorum," he said. I merely nodded.

"It's really quite simple. As I'm sure Magnus and Will have already told you, we identified the man we believed to be the leader of the local insurgent cell. We pursued him and your men intervened. We watched the decoy die. Your guys started shooting at each other and we realized it was Wahid all along. We sent him home, back into Hollow Earth."

"Well, well, well," he said, "Dr. Zimmerman's story is confirmed. Looks like your mom was lying to me."

I tried my best to look alarmed. Not easy when I wanted to laugh my head off as I was seeing him fall right into our trap.

**~~o0o~~**

"You've sent the Hollow Earth Osama home to rearm and regroup?" Addison asked. We were all in Magnus's office, even Henry and the Big Guy. We were so close now.

"We sent him to safety. His abilities are far too broad-reaching to be safely exploited by anyone, including you," Magnus replied.

"You realize that's a capital crime."

"Whoa, wait a minute—" Will exclaimed.

"Too late, Will. You gave him what he needed," Magnus told him angrily.

"What, do you mean I told him the truth? Yes. Because if we don't start cooperating,  
>they're going to shut us down!"<p>

"And if you do what they say, they hand the reins to the Sanctuary to you." Perfect. Magnus and Will were good at this faking-anger stuff.

"Which I never ever wanted, ever!" Will protested.

"Time to start being reasonable, Dr. Magnus," Addison told her, "Your funding, your bank accounts, your access, I control it all. Now, you can close your doors tomorrow, or you can accept the fact that as of now, the Sanctuary network is under total supervision of the U.N. Security Council. That's right. I'm your new boss."

"Get out. Right now. Take your people with you. You have 10 minutes," Magnus told him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Magnus…" Will warned.

"You heard me. Leave my property," she said forcefully, standing.

"You just signed the Sanctuary's death warrant. You sure that's the right move?" Addison asked. He was surprised and angry.

"This is what you wanted, isn't it? To force this outcome?"

"I wanted us to work together," he answered.

"This entire investigation has been a charade to gain you access. You knew I would never hand over my records, my residents, my _friends_, to whatever abnormal Guantanamo Bay you're planning. I'd sooner burn it to the ground. I have given five lifetimes to this work. I have seen everyone I love die for it. Do you really think you can begin to take that on?" she asked, her face inches from his.

"This is insane. Would you please talk some sense into her? Your research has been bought and paid for over the years by the people I work for. You turn me away now; you're out in the cold for good."

"You come near us again, and I'll arrange for you to be eaten," she said seriously.

"After you," the Big Guy grunted. He walked out and the door closed.

"Wow. Did that just happen?" Henry asked.

"I thought it went rather well, actually. Wouldn't you agree?" she asked, looking at Will and I.

"Hell yeah," Will and I responded together.

"Uh, so, no offense, but you just told the world's governments to take a flying leap," Henry pointed out.

"I have money put in places that Addison doesn't even know exist," Magnus told him.

"And…There's something else he doesn't know," Will said.

**~~o0o~~**

"Holy crap, is that who I think it is?" Henry asked. We were standing in front of the cage containing the mind-controlling abnormal.

"The Crixorum. We got him," Will said.

"Umm, what kind of shielding is this? Can he get in our heads right now?"

"Something special I ordered behind your back. But we need to keep him sedated until we find a more permanent way to protect ourselves from his power," Magnus told him.

"How did he get here?" Henry asked.

"He's been here all week," Will told him.

"You just didn't notice," I teased.

"We knew Addison's men were on our trail, and we knew they were going to make a lot of noise going in. This was the best chance we had of getting near him without, you know, being heard. But he was one step ahead of us. He set up the fake Crixorum to take the fall for him. While we were figuring it out, Addison's men interfered, and…"

"I offered to get him home safely in exchange for a peaceful guarantee. He refused my offer."

"So why did you keep it a secret from us?" Henry asked.

"So we couldn't blow the punch line," the Big Guy realized.

"We had to do whatever we could to minimize the chances that Addison would pull the wrong thread."

"Believe me, it was not easy, pulling this off," I said.

"So all that stuff you told him, was any of it true?" Henry asked.

"Oh, most of it. It's easier to keep a lie straight when it's close to the truth. We had to have layers to the story, different scenarios depending on when he separated us and how much he already knew."

"Oh, and he didn't really count me as a real team member on that mission, so he just brought me in to confirm Will's story," I added.

"A guy like that is never going to be satisfied with the first thing he's been told. He's always going to assume he's being played," Will continued.

"The one thing we had in our favor was that he also assumed he was the best player in the room. Give him something to figure out—"

"Well, in our case, three things—"

"And let him think he's won," Magnus finished.

"So if he even tries to look for the Crixorum, he'll be looking in Hollow Earth," Henry caught on.

"Good luck with that," the Big Guy grunted.

"It's vital that he and his superiors think that cutting off the Sanctuary was their idea," Magnus said.

"Wait a second, you wanted that to happen?" Henry asked.

"It had to. The Sanctuary needs its freedom. This was the best way to get it," Magnus explained.

"Magnus and I had some fierce debates on this subject while zenning on our mountaintop," I smiled.

"If we're down, they're not going to come after us in full force, at least not for a while," Will said.

"Now, Addison was right about one thing. The Crixorum is a vital piece of the puzzle. Quite possibly, he's the key to it all. I want that leverage right here."

"We're going to need to fortify our defenses, aren't we?" Henry asked.

"Very much so, my friend."

**~~o0o~~**

"I know we planned this outcome, but it's a big risk. Are you absolutely sure that this the right move?" Will asked. We were back in Magnus's office.

"I've had more than a century to think about it, Will. When you're forced onto the sidelines, you see things from another perspective. I made a lot of choices in my life, some of them in haste. This was my chance to rethink the road I was on, rethink what the Sanctuary needs to be."

"A hundred years of planning your next move, and having to sit on your hands the whole time? You couldn't wait to sink your teeth into Addison, could you?" Will asked.

"He's not the problem. I've allowed us to become part of a system that we can't control. There are changes coming that the world is not ready for. So from now on, we make our own rules," Magnus said with finality.

**~~o0o~~**

Will, Henry, and I were going through Lía's, Alfred's, and Danaka's rooms. Now that they were gone, there wasn't much we could do with the rest of their stuff after the funeral. George's was being sent over from the New York Sanctuary.

"Hey, Tayla," Will held up a small, leather bound book. I took it from him. "Lía's," he said. I opened it to the first page. Neatly stenciled, Cabal was written there as the title. We all exchanged nervous glances. I turned the page to find the first entry.

_Today was the first day I realized I was beginning to lose my memories. Not all of them, just the ones from my days with the Cabal. At first they started to just get fuzzy, as things do with time. But then I couldn't remember my doctor's name, or the drug they had used for wiping memories. So I've decided to put down everything I do remember before I forget it all. _

_After my memory was wiped, they began educating me about our team and the mission of the Cabal. My team was to have five members, with me at the head. When the Cabal finally controlled the world, we were to be in command of the entire western division of the army, with Ashley and her team heading the eastern. My team was made up of three girls and two boys. I, Lía, was the most acrobatic and balanced. My body would allow me to perform the most complicated of maneuvers. Juliana, who I chose as my second-in-command, would be the one who kept the others battle ready. She would have the quickest healing powers and could telepathically tell when one of us was injured. With some training, she would also be able to assume the pain of her teammates and bare it for them. Alfred was our watcher. He had the most sensitive senses of all of us. He and Juliana also shared the power of a blood imprint. Once they tasted another person's blood, they could track and find them if they were near enough. George was the most telepathically connected to any of us. He could always tell where we were, no matter how far away. Danaka was to be our secret weapon. Like Juliana, she could tell the pain of the other members. But when she felt it, once it boiled to a certain point inside of her, it would spill out, instantly killing everyone close to her. _

_I remember training. Executing flips, back flips, somersaults, and purposely causing myself physical harm whenever there were spaces too small to normally fit through. I trained for long term ops, unlike Ashley, who was more of a hit-and-run gig. We learned how to sneak around, stay out of sight, stash bodies, create poisons, and survive interrogation. Every night in our daily injections we were given some sort of drug to suppress our memories of the day. That way, if interrogated, we wouldn't be able to give anything away, but in a real life situation we would be able to call on our training. It was very confusing at first, knowing how to do things but not where I learned them. We also practiced meditation (the doctors saying it would help our wounds heal faster, something the Cabal added within our physiology, but useless now because I refuse to think "Hail the all-powerful Cabal, and I, their humble servant" now like I would have to) and (later) working as a team. Before these team sessions specifically, the doctors would apply a short term mind wipe and replace everything we had ever learned before the Cabal with the details of our mock "mission." By this time, I had been with the Cabal three years. _

_I watched each of the other team members without them knowing it, in order to pick my second-in-command. Juliana was always my favorite. To tell the truth, I envied her grace and perception. One time there was a problem with Alfred in the next room over. The walls were completely soundproof—I screamed at night when I was first taken and no one could hear me—but still she knew something was wrong. They told me later it was just a mild breakdown; they had been training him too hard before wiping him. I guess he was more delicate than they thought. Anyway, Juliana could sense something was—_

I shut the book. "Feels like an invasion of privacy, doesn't it?" Will asked. I nodded. "Just stack it on the pile to file away in case we ever need reference," Will suggested. I set it carefully atop the small pile and continued to go through the room.

**~~o0o~~**

When we were all finished, I volunteered to take the stuff down to the catacombs and Henry and Will left to make dinner. I set the box down on one of the tables and lifted the diary out of it again. I couldn't just leave it down here, I couldn't. I had to know more about my past. I took it back to my room and set it on my bookcase. As it hit the shelf, there was a dull _thunk_. I stared at the book. It shouldn't make that sound. I picked it up and ran my thumb across it, frowning. I flipped through the pages and a chunk of them stuck together. I opened it up and and there, hidden in the pages of the book, was a syringe with the blood red liquid clearly visible. The last of the Source Blood.

**So…what did you think? Sorry about the cliffhanger at the end. That idea came to me at midnight last night…yeah, that's when my mind works. How did Lía get the syringe? I have no idea! Anyway, I'll try to get Monsoon out ASAP. Review please!**


	33. The Restoration of the Cabal

"You escaped from us once. That will not happen again." The snarling face of Dana Whitcomb looked down at me. I knelt on the edge of a wide chasm, bound with Titanium webbing to a pole coming out of the ground, in case I was feeling suicidal. I looked down into the chasm. It was broad daylight, and I could see all the way to the rocky sand bottom, full of desert shrubs and dry grass. A hot breeze drifted past. The heat was stifling. "Now, you shall witness the true power of the Cabal," she said evilly. She gestured down into the chasm. I peered down again and the earth far below was moving. Bubbling, almost. Then I noticed them. The creatures scaling the walls. I turned my horrified gaze back to Dana, who smiled coldly. "Say hello to your new army. Every person who has ever worked for the Cabal is replicated down there, in a zombified state. With certain improvements, of course." She looked at me, considering. "I always did think you were more suitable than the others. But Sandra insisted Lía would be better. And yet you are the survivor. Perhaps…you'd like a reunion?" Four figures stood in a line in front of me. They looked exactly like Lía, George, Alfred, and Danaka, only their skin had a gray tiny and was smeared with grime. Others completed the climb to stand there, waiting for orders. Ashley, her eyes red, stood erect facing me. To the side, even Kate appeared.

"Choose your officers," Dana said silkily.

"Never," I spat, horrified.

"Mmm. Very well." She turned to Ashley. "Kill her." Ashley stepped forward, claws extended.

I woke up with a jolt in bed. Safe, in the Sanctuary. No hordes of zombified Cabal agents. I rubbed my eyes and dragged myself out of bed. I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was all messed up and I had slightly noticeable circles around my eyes. Likely no one would notice. This nightmare was the second this week, and was much more vivid than the last one, where the Cabal was experimenting on me again by combining my DNA with that of a bird, trying to give me wings.

**~~o0o~~**

Lía stood in front of me, holding a small, dainty knife. On either side of her were Alfred and Danaka. I was hanging, my hands tied above my head, a couple feet off the ground. They all advanced, each one holding a weapon. They slashed all at once. I arched my body as the blades sliced through my skin, blood instantly flowing from the deep wounds. Before I knew what was happening, they struck again. I was in a cocoon of eternal torment for what seemed like forever. I couldn't feel my body anymore, only a faint dull pain. I couldn't have moved an inch even if I wanted to.

Though it was dangerous, I began to long for Druitt's power, to be able to teleport other places at will. Even if this place were set up with an EM shield, death would be kinder than this. Finally, a stray slash split the rope I hung from and my legs, unable to support my weight, bucked as soon as they touched the floor.

My face pressed hard against the cool stone of the main lab. The main lab? I opened my eyes to find myself crumpled across the stone floor. How did I get here?

Then I remembered. The nightmare. The torture. The pure hatred in their eyes. Even George, who I had considered my friend. All of them. I gingerly got up from the floor and stretched. Nobody was around although Sally was staring at me oddly through the glass of her enclosure. I shook my head and turned towards the elevator. A few seconds after I pressed the button, it dinged open, but it wasn't empty.

"Good morning," Magnus said cheerfully.

"Good morning," I replied with a yawn.

"What're you doing up so early?" she asked, tucking her clipboard more securely under her arm.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Four thirty," she answered, flashing out a hand to stop the elevator doors from closing.

"Oh, I was, uh, checking on the...nubbins! The nubbins. I thought I heard some squeaking in the night, so I thought I'd check it out, just to be sure..."

"And?"

"Nope. Nothing. All just snoozing there peacefully. Although one of the little ones opened its eyes and sneezed at me."

"How rude," Magnus said with a smile.

"What're you doing up so early?" I asked.

"Oh, you know, the usual," she said with a sigh, "I knew breaking off would be a lot of work but this? I've got two African Sanctuaries bankrupt and ready to close, one being bombed in Russia, another in Bolivia that's been taken over by the military!"

"But we've got a secret weapon against all this," I reminded her.

"And what would that be?"

"A plan," I replied with a grin.

"A plan?" she asked, half-amused, half-skeptical.

"A good plan," I told her, "As well it should be, as we spent a hundred and thirteen years on it."

"Mmm," she agreed. "I'd better go. I'll be in my office if you need me. Go back to bed!"

"I'm going, I'm going," I muttered, stepping into the elevator. She turned away, smiling, and the doors shut. I hit the button to take me to the residential floor.

I didn't like lying to Magnus. I didn't know why I didn't want to tell her about the dreams. Like, maybe if I just ignored them they'd go away and not be prophetic? Or is it that I don't want her to view me as weak? I'm a vampire, for goodness sake! She's my mother. She's not going to think that of me!

So what is it then?

**~~o0o~~**

There it was. Far ahead of me, in my little rowboat. With no oars to speak of. The drone of a helicopter overhead with the large wave barreling down on me makes my day just perfect. Dana Whitcomb is in that plane, heading for the island. We—Nikola and I—would never get there in time to help. We're both soaked to the bone with sea water.

The island up ahead is the home of a giant spider we previously dubbed "Big Bertha." The Cabal awakened her from the tranquil state we had put her in. We were all headed there on a big ship, the closest around, so it was a rickety wood thing, with its lifeboats as paddleboats, some of them without oars. Still, we had set out at full speed towards the island. Everyone I know at the Sanctuary was on that boat: Magnus, Will, Kate, Henry, Nikola, Aaron and his squad, Declan, and the Big Guy. The exception was Druitt; he had never reappeared since feeding the energy being inside him with electricity from Adam's machines. Then the wave had struck. It was another massive tidal wave emanating from Big Bertha and it had knocked our boat askew. Last I had seen, everyone had escaped onto "lifeboats," and, of course, Nikola and I had been left with the one with no oars. All our weapons—guns, stunners, etc.—had been swept off the boat. The only weapons we had were the ones in the ship's armory. Medieval weapons to protect themselves from…pirates? Maybe in the 1600s. Nevertheless, I had a sword strapped to my belt and a bow strung across my back. The water had swept most of the arrows away with it, so it was all but worthless. Nikola was holding a long spear in one hand and a trident in another. I knew Magnus had a bow and two quivers of arrows. Kate had throwing knifes. Will, for some odd reason, had chosen a pair of battle axes. I didn't have time to ask.

"Drop the weapons in the boat, we have to swim," Nikola commanded.

"Okay." I pulled the sword off my belt and the quiver and bow off my back and jumped into the water. I've never liked diving, and I wasn't going for depth. On the other side, Nikola executed a flawless dive—showoff—and we met on the back side of the boat. We placed our hands on the boat and started kicking with our legs, smooth, powerful strokes. I adjusted the rhythm of my kicks to match Nikola's and for a while we just swam, pushing the boat ever forward.

Finally, up ahead, the relatively-new island came into view.

"Do you see that?" I shouted to Nikola over the roar and almost getting sucked under the wave for my efforts.

His voice was grim. "Look closer."

I squinted through the mist at the island, growing closer slightly as we swam. Big Bertha reared, stabbing her front two legs into the rocks. Two figures moved out of the way just in time, one of them firing a bow and the other struggling to lift his axe from the rocks where it had sunk in. Magnus and Will. "We've got to help them," I said to Nikola.

"Too late." The helicopter hovered just over the island and Big Bertha froze. She dove back into the ocean as shots peppered down from the helicopter. The figures collapsed. The ocean exploded around the island in another torrent of water. It barreled down upon us and I was pushed under the wave.

Cold, hard floor. Shouts of alarm. Hand lifting my chin up off the floor. Light in my eye. Unconscious.


	34. Teleportation

**Note:** **Ch 30 has been posted as of 2/16/13. It's Tempus Part II.**

"I dunno, Doc, she just appeared next to my lab station, lying in the floor...like you know who..."

I blinked, a blurry world came into focus. I was in the infirmary, an IV in my arm and my old titanium watched splayed across my neck. Crude, but effective. But what happened? Why am I here? I can't have hurt anyone; I'm not being restrained—the titanium was only to get the IV needle in.

The infirmary door opened and Magnus walked in. "Tayla, you're awake," she said, obviously relieved.

"Yeah, what happened?" I questioned.

"We don't know. We think…we think a latent Cabal ability may have surfaced," Magnus told me haltingly.

"What this time?" I asked. _Apparently even without their treatment, once you start, you will go through all the changes eventually, _Magnus's voice echoed through my mind from that day so long ago, when I had first begun to transform uncontrollably.

"Teleporting," she said.

"You don't mean…like Druitt…"

She nodded, confirming it. "There is a serum we could try, but we'd need some of the original Source Blood to make it work, but there's none of that left. I'm starting to wish I hadn't insisted Nikola destroy that lavae he kept…"

"Magnus," I said slowly. She looked at me. "I have some."

"What? How?" she exclaimed, both angry and glad.

"Lía had hidden some that she took while she was with the Cabal. She hid it in a diary she kept while with them. I started reading it, but…it just felt like a massive invasion of privacy. I mean, especially considering I didn't like her, before she…before she died." I paused. "I guess it made me feel kind of ashamed that I wasn't more patient with her. She didn't choose to become what she was, just like I didn't choose to get abducted and changed by the Cabal."

"Tayla, even without the Source Blood, that notebook could contain valuable information concerning the treatments they used on you!" Magnus said sharply. "Where is it now?"

"In my room, on the bookshelf, behind _Oedipus the King_," I answered. "The blood's still in it. You should take that, I'll flip through the journal."

"All right," Magnus agreed. She left.

I laid my head back against the pillow, thinking maybe I should've volunteered to get it myself. Anything to get out of the infirmary. I wasn't sick. Maybe when she got back I could at least convince Magnus to let me "rest" in my own room. My own room…

_Wham!_ I fell flat on my back onto my bed from a few feet up. Magnus spun around, eyes flashing dangerously. "Tayla! Did you just—?"

"I don't know how it happened," I replied, "I was just thinking about my room and suddenly I was here."

"How are you getting through the EM shield?" Magnus wondered indignantly out loud. She glanced down into the journal she had taken from my shelf. "Oh no. The Cabal were engineering you to bypass the EM field. Had we not stopped them when we did, I'm not sure we would've won at all."

"We'll it's a good thing you stopped them, then," I said.

She handed me the journal. "As this new power manifested itself more than one hundred years later, I would hazard to say that without the Cabal's daily treatments you won't have to worry about any more latent abilities showing up for a long time yet. It appears to be slowing down the longer you're off their serum, and it has been one hundred plus years, so I think as soon as we've halted this one with the Source Blood that Lía had you're back on active duty."

"Can I stay here?" I requested. "I don't particularly like being confined in the infirmary."

Magnus thought about it. "Fine," she agreed, "if you promise to stay in your room. Don't think about anywhere else. I'll be back with the antidote as soon as it's made."

"I won't."

She left my room, shutting the door behind her. From on top of the bookshelf where she was perched, Aeya spoke: _So, found a new vampire ability, have you?_

_Yes,_ I answered, _but not for long._ This telepathic communication thing had taken a long time to get used to, but I was finally getting the hang of it. Although it was a little difficult getting back in the habit after one hundred thirteen years without her. I had missed my little orange werecat. Speaking of which, I had never asked how she had gotten back from Hollow Earth. When Magnus and I had arrived back at the Sanctuary during the abnormal uprising, there she was. Things had been moving too quickly then for me to wonder about it, but…

_How did you get back here from underground?_ I asked.

_I caught a ride, _she replied simply.

_From whom? Druitt? _I questioned, slightly alarmed, but she would say no more. Sighing, I sat down on my bed and opened but the diary, continuing where I had left off.

_I watched each of the other team members without them knowing it, in order to pick my second-in-command. Juliana was always my favorite. To tell the truth, I envied her grace and perception. One time there was a problem with Alfred in the next room over. The walls were completely soundproof—I screamed at night when I was first taken and no one could hear me—but still she knew something was wrong. They told me later it was just a mild breakdown; they had been training him too hard before wiping him. I guess he was more delicate than they thought. Anyway, Juliana could sense something was amiss. She stared in his direction for hours on end while he was inoperable, and I think a tear even rolled down her cheek once, although I doubt she knew why she was crying. _

_Today feels like it should be special, but I don't know why. Everything before the Cabal is already gone, and beyond that I believe I'm starting to lose myself. Who am I? Who are they turning me into? Who do I want to be? I discovered a new power of mine this morning, but it doesn't excite me as it would have a few days ago. It takes a lot of concentration, but I discovered I can incapacitate any one of us, freeze him or her so they cannot move. Though the power is exhilarating, I don't know if I would ever want to use it. I can hear someone at the door. I'll continue this tom or—_

There was a large pen mark, as if the diary had been torn away from her while she was still writing. The next entry started on the back side of that page.

_I don't know what I was talking about yesterday. Seeing Danaka's progress has cheered me up immensely. Though she's little, she packs a _powerful _punch. The Cabal is talking about giving her another power, a scream that can burst human ear drums. I mean, think about it. That's, like, the best one yet! I can just imagine crashing into that hellhole Sanctuary, standing right in front of the renowned Dr. Helen Magnus and watching her life bleed out of her ears before tearing into her flesh and feasting on her blood._

I stopped reading for a moment, disgusted. There was a huge change in Lía apparent between these two entries. I could only surmise that the Cabal found out her blasphemous writings and "corrected" them. I scan the rest of it for anything else about my abilities or my powers to come, but there's nothing as far as I can tell. Just an escalating sense of murderer in the mind of Lía towards the middle of the book, and then a drastic downgrade when she first meets Alfred, a little after he's wiped. Though his memory was gone, his human personality hadn't been beaten out of him yet, and that was when she fell in love with him, although the doctors didn't know about it. He wanted more than anything to get out, and so when the Cabal fell, instead of fighting for them, they managed to escape the ruins of the facility and make it to Pike's Peak in Colorado with Danaka.

There was a soft knock on the door before it was pushed open by a little girl wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt. "Anjali," I said, startled, closing the book and setting it down on my bed.

"Are you sick?" she asked.

I laughed. "No, not really. What's up?"

"Will told me to bring this to you," she said, thrusting a thin metal package at me. "Did I do a good job? He said I'd get a cookie if I did a good job."

"Yes, you did perfectly," I smiled, patting the seat beside me. "Come, sit." I turned the metal casing over in my hands, then undid the latch on the side and opened it. Turning it upside down made several sheets of paper fall out. Picking them up, I got a warm feeling inside. "Anjali, they're from Kate," I said happily. "Kate sent me a letter from Hollow Earth."

"Kate!" Anjali exclaimed happily. She had finally gotten the pronunciation of Kate's name right.

_Hey Tayla, _it began. _I'm sorry it's been so long since my last letter. I did, however, receive Biggie's message about the little girl on your doorstep. I do have a cousin named Anjali. She would be around seven now, I think. She and her mother had moved to somewhere in the U.S. a few years ago, but I never knew where. My uncle died when I was a young teenager and Anjali was barely born, so she grew up fatherless. I have no idea why she came to the Sanctuary, nor how she knew where to find me. It could be that her mother tracked down my brother in California and he directed her there._

_It would be very difficult to come back to the Sanctuary on such short notice, or even at all, seeing as there's no guarantee I'll be able to get back down here. I talked to Garris about this and he thinks that it isn't worth my going up to the surface if she is well cared for at the Sanctuary and has no immediate need of me. I am inclined to agree. I of course would love to meet her sometime, but I, as you know, have no experience being a mother or raising a child. It is improbable that she could come live with us down in here in Hollow Earth, so it may be best that we not see each other until I come to the surface for other reasons. I am sorry, but this is the way it has to be. _

The letter went on, but not about Anjali. "What does it say?" the little girl asked, standing on the bed and peering over my shoulder.

"Kate says she would love to meet you but doesn't know when she will be able to," I summarized.

"Soon?" Anjali asked.

"Of course," I smiled. "Now run along back to Will and demand your cookie!"

Anjali grinned and ran off, nearly bumping into Magnus, who was returning with the serum. "Kate sent a letter," I said, holding it up.

"And she can't come up to see Anjali," Magnus guessed.

"Yeah."

"I presumed as much. The girl is happy here, and we can provide for her indefinitely or until other arrangements are made. Here, I've finished this." Magnus held up a syringe full of orange liquid. "It should suppress your teleportation powers."

"How did you have it ready so quickly?" I asked, amazed.

"You were out for two days," Magnus said with a slight smile. "And I've been working on something for John for a long time."

I proffered my forearm, wincing as the needle was inserted into it and the solution injected inside of me. After what seemed like hours, she removed it. "Done."

"I don't feel any different."

"Give it a minute or so to work, then think about a place to which to teleport."

After a suitable amount of time, I thought about Magnus's office. Nothing. "Nothing," I said, looking up at Magnus.

"Good," she replied.

"Is there any Source Blood left?"

Her expression hardened. "Half a vial."

"Could we keep it?" I asked in a soft voice. "If something like this happens again, it would be good to have around, right?"

She paused. "All right," she conceded, "but no one must know. To Will and the others, it was all used. Gone. Meanwhile I will hide it in the catacombs until we find a better place. Next week I'm hoping to meet a new asset who will be able to keep it safe."

"Thank you," I said seriously. She nodded and left.


	35. Monsoon: Ashley

**Chapter 35: Monsoon – Ashley**

December 1, 2011

"I want to go with you," I argued.

"Don't be ridiculous, Tayla, your duties are here!"

"But...if you don't meet Feliz, all our plans will be for naught."

Magnus smiled slightly. "Do you doubt my abilities? No, you are the only one besides me who can properly manage the Sanctuary with our long term goal in mind and take care of her." The "her" she was referring to was, of course, Ashley.

"Okay," I finally agreed. "But with you gone it's going to be even harder to excuse my absences when administering to Ashley."

"I'm sure Henry and Will will give you little trouble," Magnus said. "I expect Will will complain about the spotty heating and Henry will spend most of his time at the computer."

"True," I smiled.

"All right, I have to go," Magnus said, picking up her handbag from the back of a chair.

"Goodbye!"

"See you in a few days."

She shut the door behind her. I sighed, then got up and stretched. Aeya trotted in through the open door on the other side of the room, Anjali close behind her.

_She annoys me,_ Aeya announced. _She keeps trying to pull my tail._

_She's only six!_ I protested. Aeya harrumphed in response.

Anjali noticed me and leapt into my arms.

"Hi Tayla!" she shouted.

"Hello, you!" I greeted her with a smile. "Looking forward to going to school in a month?"

Anjali made a face. "No."

I laughed. "You'll have fun, I promise."

"Will said he'd teach me some numbers today, but Henry kicked me out of the lab where Will was," she complained.

"Well then you should go bother somebody else," I smiled. "I have to go somewhere."

"Where?"

"Somewhere," I repeated mysteriously.

"Can I come?"

"No, it's a secret," I replied, "but I hear Will calling you now. You'd better go!"

The little girl scampered off down the corridor to Will, who greeted her with: "Hey Anjali! Are you ready to do some math?"

I returned to my room to fetch my car keys, which were hanging on a hook by the door. I drove away in the same car Magnus and I had shared during our hundred thirteen years together and pulled into a parking lot next to the nearest entrance to the New Sanctuary. The dank smell of the wet underground flooded my extra-sensitive vampiric nostrils and I resisted the urge to sneeze. I made my way in the dark, needing only the tiniest pinpoints of light to see the landmarks that guided my way. Finally I reached the panel on the wall. I stood still as the green light scanned my eyes, confirming my identity. I punched in the passcode. The door swung open. After a few turns around the rocky walls I entered the elevator, which took me smoothly down many stories.

I exited the elevator, turned the corner, and arrived. The splendor of the New Sanctuary lay before me, stretching far up into the cavernous space above. A smooth pale brick path stretched all the way to the buildings, crossing the lush marshland and small pond with forestry surrounding it. Ahead were the twin buildings, walls white and shiny and interiors new and sparkling. Above them, the transporter balls whizzed by on their polished track. A staircase was cut into the rock, and four arches joined in the center of the compound, hundreds of feet above my head.

I walked briskly along the white path, having traversed this place for fifty years. I had seen it from the start to the finish. I opened the door to the building on the right, taking yet another elevator down four stories. I entered Ashley's infirmary room.

Ashley lay on the bed, her long blonde hair splayed out on the pillow. She hadn't moved an inch since I last saw her—or, indeed, for the last two years. A chair sat by her bed, where Magnus had sat and talked long hours to her daughter while we still waited to rejoin our timeline. The first bag above Ashley's head on the IV stand was almost empty, the one next to it full of clear liquid almost halfway full. The first was the bag of nutrients that flowed into Ashley's bloodstream constantly, keeping her alive. Since she was unconscious, she herself of course could not eat or drink.

The second was for the translucent tranquilizer that we kept her on, although her dosage had been cut by more than half since her treatment first started. As her body grew more human, she needed less of it to stay under and an overdose would surely kill her. It would be another six months before she would be conscious and another half year after that until she would be completely well. I opened the large refrigerator on one side of the room and took out two new bags and attached them to her IV line.

She looked so innocent, lying there. There wasn't a crease of worry on her face; she could have been sleeping. Or dead, if it wasn't for the slight rise and fall of her chest and the pump of her heart. I sat down on the chair by her bedside.

Usually it was Magnus who talked with Ashley for long periods of time. I had never really spoken to her before. Magnus had said that it was possible she could hear us in there. Maybe she was scared, thinking we were the Cabal again. Without her mother there to talk to her, I felt like I had to.

"Hi Ashley," I began, directing my words to the motionless girl in front of me instead of to the otherwise empty room. "I know we've never met before, but…we're kind of alike, you and I. We were both taken from our mothers and changed by the Cabal. But your mom and I…we're never going to let them have you back. You're safe here, they're destroyed, and nobody even knows you're here. Will, Henry, the Big Guy…they all think you died. And you did, but we rescued you when we went back in time through Worth's time portal to 1890s. Who's Adam Worth? Oh, you've missed a lot, Ashley. And Henry's going to have a kid! A little HAP child. You'll be awake by the time he or she is born. You've never even met Kate! Well, I guess she did hit you with a rocket, but that doesn't really count. I think you'll like meeting Will's girlfriend. She's on the other side, but that's okay. The government is blind to even the existence of this place. Maybe, when it's all over, she'll come to work here." I glanced at the clock. "I have to go now, but I promise I'll be back tomorrow." My voice sounded unnaturally loud in the silent room. I gave her hand a squeeze before leaving. "I'm Tayla, by the way," I said at the door. I closed it behind me, the electronic lock activating instantly.

By the time I returned to the Sanctuary, Henry and Will were arguing again.

"No, I can't make the hot water heater work again for the residential floors; lukewarm is the best you're gonna get!" Henry exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, just don't give me the new era speech again," Will complained exasperatedly.

"Dude, it is totally new era." Will sighed. "Thanks to Addison and the U.N.," Henry continued, "we have no commercial banking access, We have no military or law enforcement support."

"It is cold in here, or is it just me?" Will asked.

"Dunno, can't tell," I answered, joining them.

"We also have no love from the mayor's office, Which means no breaks on our heating bills or property taxes," Henry told him.

"Really?" Will swore.

"Really."

"Oh, man. Abby's coming over for lunch today. We're celebrating her big promotion And I bought all this gourmet food and those sea salt chocolates you told me about—"

"All right, I'll fix the heating," Henry sighed.

"Thank you. I will save you some chicken."

"I'm getting paid in chicken now," Henry commented. "Actually, it could be worse."

"Yeah, sure it could. Think about Magnus."

"What about her?" I asked.

"Yeah, so what's the deal with Africa? Why not Switzerland, or Monaco, or wherever this guy's from?" Henry questioned.

"She didn't tell you? This guy, Feliz, he lives on his plane."

"Shut up!" Henry exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. He sends you the coordinates of some landing spot twenty-four hours in advance. In this case, it's some lawless island off the coast of Mozambique," Will explained.

"So he never stays in one place for long."

"No. How "Bond villain" is that?"

"So, he's our guy now?"

"Yeah, yeah. If you want something kept hidden or off the grid, Richard Feliz is your man. He's our underground ally," Will told him.

"Lawless island. That sounds dodgy," Henry thought.

"Aw, come on, for "bullets and leather" Magnus? She can handle it," Will scoffed.

"She's faced way worse things in the past," I agreed.

"Anything during your hundred and thirteen years?" Will baited.

"Are you still trying to get me to spill about that?" I asked.

"Well, yeah," Henry said. "Magnus's explanation was kinda…missing something."

"What do you mean?"

We were now in Will's office. "We're supposed to believe you two sat on your hands all that time?"

"Magnus's conscience would never go for that," Will told me.

"She would want to save everyone she missed the first time," Henry agreed. They both looked at me.

"We both knew we couldn't disrupt the timeline," I answered. "Saving a few lost along the way at the cost of countless lives that would be lost if we failed to make it back."

"Okay, that's just insulting," Will complained.

"Like we couldn't have handled the uprising on our own," Henry shook his head.

I just laughed. "The Sanctuary Network would be doomed without us."

*~o0o~*

"Can you get into contact with Magnus?" Will asked me.

"No, she didn't want to be disturbed, why?"

"It's important."

"Okay, I can try. Did Henry ever get that secure messenging app finished?"

"Yeah, Magnus took it with her."

"What's so important?" I asked as I opened up the application on my computer.

"Henry and I were just tracking down a loose steno," Will growled, "and guess who shows up? It turns out that the FBI has an abnormal hunting division, and it's Abby's new assignment."

I shrugged. "Figures."

"You knew this was going to happen?" Will exploded.

"It was a not-unlikely scenario that we discussed," I answered, typing his message into the box. "There, but I'm not sure if she'll actually get it until her plane lands back in the U.S." I spun my chair around to face him. "Abby being on it is a twist though."

"I've got to get her out of there. A steno is nothing to toy with."

"Well, she is FBI, Will, she can probably take care of herself."

"Not with the bastard Gavin she's carting around with her," he grumbled. "Do we have any spare Durango bats around here?"

"Yeah, but Magnus would never sanction letting them get loose."

"Would she sanction my girlfriend getting killed by an angry stenopelhabilis?"

"Fine. But we can't leave them there; she'll go ballistic if they turn up missing."

"Agreed. You place the anonymous tip on the way there and stick around to pick them up after."

I nodded, pushing my chair back. "Why Durango bats? Aren't there things less lethal that you could use?"

"I know Abby will get out fine," Will answered as we entered the elevator. "She and I were on a date when we captured this lot. She'll remember that all you have to do is cover your face to approach them."

"Are all dates with you that perilous?" I teased.

"It would seem so," he said grudgingly. "What irks me most is that I've probably taught her more stuff than any of those idiots in the FBI did about catching abnormals."

"Probably."

On the way to the warehouse, I placed the call, doing my best to sound like a scared civilian than myself. The man on the other end thanked me in his gruff voice and promised that it would be taken care of immediately. Will pulled away after dropping me of with the cage of six bats. They tore at the bars until I pulled a see-through black cloth over my head. I set the cage down and pulled the now docile bats out one at a time, giving them a boost to the rafters. A car door slammed outside, and I agilely leapt up the stack of crates to perch on the dark, narrow beam of the rafters, hoping to melt into the shadows.

The warehouse doors were shifted heavily open, and a large man stepped in, pointing his gun everywhere.

"Come on, Gavin," Abby said from somewhere outside. She shouldered past him. "It's going to get away. Again!"

Gavin strode forward into the building, holding his gun aloft at arm's length. There was a screeching sound and the six bats swarmed downward. After a cry of alarm, Abby ducked and covered her face with her arms. Gavin, however, attempted the bat the creatures away with his weapon and soon went down under the torrent of six furry bodies and twelve flapping wings.

"Gavin!" Abby shrieked. She managed to drape her jacket over her face and keep her head down as she went after her fallen partner. She dragged him out of the warehouse, and, luckily for her, the bats didn't follow. It wasn't until I heard their van speed away that I leapt nimbly down from the rafters with the tired bats safely trapped in their wire cage.

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Back at the Sanctuary, a certain someone was knocking on our door. I ducked out of sight as Henry approached it.

"I'm coming, relax!" Henry called. "Hi," he greeted her as he opened it.

"Where is he?" Abby demanded, her face livid.

"Uh, he's his office, but he just—oof." She stormed past him and into the elevator, smacking the button with her fist. I came out of my hiding place.

"She's not happy, is she?" I noted.

Henry's gaze trailed after her. "No. Whew! I would hate to be Will right now."

It wasn't until two days later did Will finally catch the steno, and from the way he was smiling after it was safe to say that he and Abby had made up. Magnus got back a day after that, which was three days late. Unusual for her.

My iPhone's alarm rang, reminding me that there was a budget meeting in five minutes. I silenced it quickly, not wanting to wake anyone up. It was two fifty-five in the morning. I set my book down on the bed and left the room, walking quietly down the hall, Aeya padding silently beside me. Magnus was waiting for me in her office.

"Good morning," she greeted me. It was completely dark outside the window, but a fire blazed merrily in the fireplace.

"How'd it go with Feliz?" I asked. She, of course, had given a full briefing to all of us yesterday afternoon, but her diagnosis may have changed given our ending goal.

"Very well, he will prove a very fruitful asset," Magnus told me. "We have money hidden places that Addison doesn't even know exist, but we need a place to store the money we have and are going to use for the upcoming months until we go undercover. We can't risk our stores being discovered before then."

"What took you so long?" I queried. "We were all wondering where you were; you were two days late."

"I had some _loose ends_ to tie up and I missed my flight back. I intended to be back sooner, but I couldn't get another flight." The way she had said loose ends was odd, but I didn't question it. "How is Ashley?"

"Still out," I shook my head, "but everything looks fine. I talked to her for a little while."

"I'll visit tomorrow," Magnus decided. "Cover for me, will you?"

"Sure. You're going to talk to your gun agent," I suggested.

She nodded. "Now, onto our budget meeting. Come look at these numbers. That'll sustain the new place for…ten, twenty years?"

"Maybe," I said in an undertone. "We've got to make that grow somehow."

"What if we throw some extra money into geothermal power now and get that finished?" she offered.

"Well…" I did the calculations. "See, yeah, that would save us ten thousand dollars worth of electricity in the long run. Where are we going to get ten thousand dollars? Skim it off the tunnel fund?"

"No, we need that. Our entrances to Hollow Earth are going to grow even fewer than they are now, and we need a way to get down there. Besides, we didn't store up several thousand pieces of track for the transporter ball for nothing."

"Once we've totally immigrated into this place for good and gone under the radar," I said, "you're going to be known as dead, right? Well, what happens if you're ever spotted again?"

"We can try to avoid that," Magnus mused, "but in the end I suppose it will be inevitable. They may know that I am alive, but not the location of our new Sanctuary."

"True."

"What if we move the money from here to here?" Magnus realized, pointing with her finger at the computer screen.

"Yeah, that'll work," I agreed. "Wow, we're really doing this, aren't we?"

"Yes we are," Magnus smiled grimly. "I can't wait to see Will's face when we reveal it to him."


	36. Resistance: Department of Tesla Affairs

**My biggest thanks to doctorwho777, for whom this chapter is dedicated! Without your support, this would have taken me another decade to finish **

**Chapter 33: Resistance – Department of Tesla Affairs**

"How'd it go?" I asked as Magnus and Henry walked into the conference room.

"Took the bait," Henry grinned.

"The Specified Counter-Insurgency Unit took our abnormal to Area 51," Magnus concluded.

"_The_ Area 51?"

"Yeah. Cool, isn't it? It's just like those movies where—"

Magnus cut him off. "We're leaving in an hour for New Mexico."

"We've got to find a cooler name for them besides Specified Counter-Insurgency Unit," Henry mused. "How about Government's Nasty Abnormal Trapping Subdivision?"

"Henry, that acronym spells 'GNATS.'"

"Yeah, well, that's what they are, right? Or maybe…Center for Recovery, Entrapment, and Excruciating Pain Sentencing."

Two hours later, we were all stalking slowly through the facility, with Henry's brain still hard at work coming up with new, insulting names for the Specified Counter-Insurgency Unit. He was right, that _was _a mouthful to say.

"Rule number one when securing a high-tech facility?" Henry whispered. "Always change your default admin password." The door we wanted opened and we slipped in.

"Well done, Henry. How long?" Magnus queried.

"I'm guessing about five minutes until they discover the hack on the security cameras. Ooh, what about Detrimental and Bogus Abnormal Gathering System?"

"Focus. We'd better hurry. Download the building's specs and—" Magnus rushed.

She was cut off as the door in front of slid open, making the sign posted on it rattle so that the letters of _Level 4 Access Only_ jiggled. We backed up hurriedly into the corner until the scientist was directly in front of us. I shot out and into the next room, ruffling the papers on his clipboard a little, but otherwise unseen. Henry reached out and caught the door and Magnus came through after him.

"Rule number two in securing a high-tech facility—"

"Yeah, I got it, thanks," Magnus muttered, looking around until finally spotting an office around the corner.

"There," she gestured towards it. Henry bent over the desk and typed on the keyboard furiously.

"Yeah. It's a standard NSA block cipher algorithm. Should only take a minute or two."

"Let's call that an outside estimate," she said, keeping a watchful eye on the door like a cornered panther.

"Whoa, jackpot. Doc, you should come check this out. Looks like the building has an inner sanctum. It's a higher security clearance. What do you bet that's where they keep the abnormals?"

"Download this into your tablet, and then let's get out of here," she ordered.

"Sure thing."

Just then, the door burst open and four heavily armed men trooped into the room, their sophisticated looking weapons pointed at our chests.

"Drop your weapons! Hands in the air, now!" the dark-skinned one demanded. I glanced at Magnus, who shook her head ever so slightly. I obediently laid my stunner on the floor as Magnus and Henry did the same.

"Come with us, now," the same man, who seemed to be in charge, at least of this squadron, commanded.

"Where are you taking us?" Magnus as one agent gripped her arm with an iron fist and forcibly led her in front of us out of the room.

"You just broke into a top-secret government facility. There will be repercussions." That was all he would say. We turned a lot—so many that my sense of direction was irreparably skewed. Henry's was better than mine, however—smell based—so maybe he was managing to keep track. Finally they shoved us through yet another door and locked it behind us, but it was by no means a prison cell.

"I'm about to be a father. How am I supposed to teach my kid the backdoor hacks to Final Fantasy from a penitentiary?" Henry paced fretfully.

"They won't lock us up. We know too much," Magnus told him in a flat voice.

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

"We're more likely to be convicted at a military tribunal and then executed in secret," she concluded. I watched Henry's face fall.

"Well, that's very comforting, thank you."

"We could break out," I suggested. "That door's not titanium; I brushed against it on the way in."

"Too risky," Magnus shook her head. "Not until we have no other choice. But why would they hold us in the facility director's office?"

"Well, it's more comfortable than a prison cell," Henry offered.

"Yes, because our comfort is very important to them," I nodded sarcastically. "Maybe all their real cells were being used for abnormals."

"The decor in this place…" Magnus murmured, clearly not listening to a word we said. "Something about it is very familiar."

"Like, 'I had that lamp in my dorm room' familiar?" Henry questioned. "Or, um, 'I dreamt I was going to be executed by the federal government' familiar?"

"Who keeps a bottle of '95 Chateau Margaux on their desk?" Magnus asked, picking it up and examining it. She whirled around as the door opened to reveal the one man we had least expected to see: Nikola Tesla.

"A little early for happy hour, don't you think?" he greeted her.

"You are the director of this facility?" Magnus asked incredulously.

"Now, before you go off on some high and mighty diatribe—" he tried to begin.

"Do you have any idea how many innocent creatures have been dragged here against their will?"

"Too late," he sighed. He spread his arms. "May I explain?"

"This better be good, dude," Henry said flatly.

"Let him talk," I hissed at Henry, but Nikola stabbed back anyway.

"As good as that root kit you stuck on my security system?" he taunted.

"The guy is so full of himself, it's not like he won't talk!" Henry hissed back. He glared almost sheepishly at Nikola. "Hmm, spotted that, huh?"

"Yeah, coming down the street on a bus filled with neon."

"Get on with it," Magnus told him, eyes bright and dangerous.

"Helen," Nikola turned to her, not a hint of apology in his voice, "I don't expect you to understand, but several months ago, I was approached by the Department of Homeland Security. They've asked me to head up a new initiative, and we exist to study Hollow Earth abnormals left behind after the invasion."

"SCIU," Henry asserted, pronouncing it "skew."

"Yeah. Catchy, actually," Nikola complimented.

"Nikola..." Magnus warned impatiently.

"Look, needless to say, I turned them down flat," he continued. "I mean, the last time I cooperated with the U.S. Government, you may recall, the assistant they gave me turned out to be a Nazi spy. But dogged little civil servants that they are, they wouldn't take no for an answer."

"What did they do, offer you a company car?" Magnus mocked.

"Company plane." Okay, now there was a hint of concession in his voice.

"Money?" Magnus exclaimed, both hurt and incredulous. "That's why you're doing this?"

"Oh, is that so wrong? After the resurrection of my race turned out to be an enormous bust-pardon the pun-I realized that I actually like being the only Sanguine Vampiris left alive. Now, why shouldn't I receive compensation to enjoy the finer things?"

"Yeah, 'cause you were always slumming it before," Henry muttered.

"You may be the only Sanguine Vampiris, but there are other vampires don't forget. We Sanguine Vampirisa don't forget any past wrongs. Make one move against us and we will gut you like the slippery fish you are," I told him.

"There's only one of you left," he pointed out, "Who's the 'we'?"

"'We' represents the entire race," I answered.

"There's only one of your entire race left."

I shrugged. "It sounds better with 'we.' More fear-inducing."

Magnus cut back in. "After all I've done to help you, all the times I've come to your aid-I re-vamped you, for goodness' sake-and this is how you repay me? By aligning with my enemies? By becoming a shill for a paranoid government hell-bent on exploiting abnormals for God knows what depraved purposes?"

"You seem upset," Nikola commented in an all-too-calm voice.

"I demand to see the abnormal quarters immediately," Magnus ordered, eyes flashing.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," he shook his head. Nikola picked up the phone off the desk. "Gayle, get Basil and Pierre back in here," he said into it.

"You can't be serious," Magnus almost shouted.

"Look, I'd love to chat, but I have work to do. As a gesture of good will, I'm going to overlook this whole "breaking into a restricted facility" affair. However, in the future, I'd appreciate it if you made an appointment," he concluded. He gestured to the two guards from earlier and they escorted us out. One of them grabbed my right arm and I almost bared my teeth at him but changed my mind at the last second. _Not a good idea in a SCIU facility,_ I told myself.

Despite my outburst, I decided not to judge Nikola too much yet. I understood what he said about wanting to redeem on his vampiric-ness. We were gifted with extraordinary powers, and yet the outside world could never know about them. We would stay young forever, but we would watch our friends and family die in the process. There were only a few people in the world who could even remotely understand that, the closest being Nikola and I. Plus all of the dark sides of our gifts: the bloodthirstiness, the loss of control… I could see why he wanted a little respect. Power. Comfort. He had had to fake his own death already!

We walked along the hallway in silence for a minute before Henry spoke.

"Doc, I'm sorry," Henry voiced his thoughts.

"Did you notice anything unusual about Nikola's behavior?" Magnus asked.

"Other than the knife in your back with his fingerprints on it?" Henry jibbed.

"He's hiding something. He needs our help, but he's too stubborn to ask."

"I did _not_ get that," Henry frowned.

"I've known him for over a hundred years. He only acts this way when he's really rattled. No, something's going on here, and whatever it is, it's big."

As she said that, the lights flickered, then began to flash for real. An alarm went off in the distance, then the one right over our heads started screeching along with it. Our two guards looked panicked and random scientists streamed towards us, occasionally ducking down corridors. One paused next to us, a terrified expression on his face. "It's happening again. Run. Run!"

To his credit, the dark-skinned guard stuck with us. Speaking urgently but calmly, he tried the hurry us back. "Come on, we can't stay here." The other guard had run at the first flicker of the lights.

"Wait a second, what is happening again?" Henry queried, planting his feet.

"We gotta go. Now!" Before we could decide whether to follow his lead or not, a large purple-gray tentacle swept out from somewhere ahead of us, wrapping itself loosely around his neck. For the first time, fear registered in his eyes before he was jerked away from the three of us. He was gone in an instant, leaving us with only a vague impression of what had snatched him.

The first guard came back for us, shoving us away from where he had been taken. Apparently he had just turned the corner, expecting us to follow. "Stop! It's too late."

"What the hell was that thing?" Magnus asked, but she received no answer. She pushed past the guard, and in seconds I had him in a headlock.

"We don't know what it was!" he exclaimed, hands scrabbling against my arm. His eyes bulged out; he looked at me and seemed to realize I wasn't human.

"Take us back to Nikola," I demanded, releasing him.

He rubbed his neck and eyed me apprehensively. "This way," he said gruffly.

After a few minutes of walking, we were returned to Nikola's posh office. He leaned against the desk, talking fast into his radio.

"No, nobody got a good look. No, we are not going to inform Washington just yet. Just do as I say."

The man on the other end tried to interrupt him.

"Just do as I say! Thank you. Evacuate the outer sections and lock down the facility. We—"

"How dare you?" Magnus interrupted. Behind us, the guard tried to pull her back.

"It's all right," Nikola waved at the guard, dismissing him. "What are you talking about?" He turned back to Magnus, head cocked slightly to one side.

"That thing out there."

"You saw it?" Nikola asked, almost hopefully.

"Not clearly, but it killed one of your guards right in front of me. So, what is it? Some sort of experimental genetic hybrid? Dreamed up by a war-mongering bureaucrat and assembled by your team of modern-day Dr. Frankensteins?"

"Just stop. I had nothing to do with that creature," Nikola shook his head.

"Oh, really? So it's just a coincidence that it's roaming the halls of your genetic testing facility," she accused.

"Whatever it is, it's naturally occurring, I swear. It showed up about twelve hours ago, attacked a cleaning lady, and then disappeared again," he explained.

"What do you mean, it just disappeared?" Henry asked.

"It vanished. It evanesced. It went poof."

"That's impossible," Magnus shot it down.

"Well, we searched the entire building, we've done secondary scans for heat, movement, oogly-googly-ness, and there's nothing, not a trace. Still sound impossible?"

"So why didn't you call for help?"

"For what? For some non-existent creature that I can't describe? And besides, who would I call, you? You seem to have forgotten you're not exactly on everyone's speed-dial anymore."

"Well, I'm here now, and I suggest that we find that thing before it does any more damage."

"You know, cooperating with you is a federal offense," he complained.

"Okay, would you rather we left?" she proposed, posture clearly stating that she would without a second glance.

"Right this way, please."

Henry handed her her weapon and I took mine. Vampire claws weren't going to do squat against that…thing.

We walked quietly down the corridor, ears alert for even the slightest sound. I could hear the pulse pounding rapidly away in each of them, Henry with his powerful one, Magnus with her normal, and Nikola with his swift and fluid beat. Up ahead, Magnus and Nikola began to talk to a room full of terrified scientists as I fell back to murmur to Henry.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" I asked in a voice so quiet I knew that only he and Nikola—if he was listening—could hear. But no, he was too busy trying to deflect the flirtations of a woman scientist in front of Magnus, for whom he held a soft spot. Typical.

"No," Henry replied in kind. "The creature…it could be something SCIU concocted in their labs. But the…_other_ thing? Unless Tesla was working on something big—"

"Which is his style," I cut in.

"It is," Henry conceded. "But I doubt this is what he meant to do—"

Alarms sounded over our heads and the lights flickered, casting a ghostly light on the already dim hallway.

"Fire!" Magnus shouted as we turned to see the large, tentacled creature reaching out to ensnare us. It disappeared as quickly as it came, however, leaving us no closer to figuring out what the heck it was.

"What the hell was that thing?" Henry voiced all of our thoughts.

"It seemed to be using some sort of inter-dimensional event horizon," Magnus responded, obviously lost in thought.

"That would explain the appearing and disappearing."

"But how is that possible?" she murmured, almost talking to herself. "In order for it to move through space-time, somebody would have had…Nikola?"

"Dude, what did you do?" Henry cut in.

"Well, about my work here, I, uh...I may not have been entirely candid with you. Please, let me take you back to my office. I'm sure a glass of '95 Chateau Margaux will do nicely in this situation."

"We have no time for wine, Nikola," Magnus growled.

"Your sharp words wound my heart, Helen," Nikola pouted, but still led us back the way we'd come.

"Out with it," Magnus demanded as soon as the door clicked shut.

"All right. I may be…partly…responsible for the appearance of that creature."

"_Partly?_" I asked.

"You don't say," Magnus replied in a cold voice.

"Bear in mind that when first approached about this job, I did turn it down," Nikola pointed out. Magnus, however, was not in the mood to go ten rounds with him today.

"What's your point?"

"My point is that the fear of abnormals is so pervasive in Washington that when they came back a second time, they basically offered me a blank check to fix the problem. Anything I needed to get the job done, no questions asked."

"I see, and you saw an opportunity," Magnus said in an accusatory voice, but Nikola didn't seem to take it that way.

"How could I pass it up?" he answered, a slight smile suffusing his features.

"Pass what up? What's going on?" Henry asked.

"He used the government money to fund his own research," Magnus translated, not taking her eyes off of Nikola. "Skimmed off the top."

"Yeah, and off the middle, and a little bit off the bottom, too," Nikola admitted with a straight-out grin.

"Dude—"

"Oh, please. I'm stealing from the department that's funding an assault on what you do. You should be thanking me," Nikola reasoned.

"Oh, yes, you're our own personal Robin Hood. So what exactly are you working on?" Pause. No answer. "_Nikola?_"

"Maybe…it would be better if I just showed you…" Nikola pondered. "This way please, and when we get there, Heinrich, hands off."

"I'm trying to fix your mess, dude!" Henry spouted back.

Ignoring him, Nikola turned to Magnus and me and waggled his eyebrows. "You're going to like this."

"I'm sure," Magnus intoned sarcastically. "Come on, let's get moving. This creature is still on the loose."

"This way." Nikola strode off down the corridor, not waiting for us to catch up.

"Behold your tax dollars at work," he announced, practically throwing open the door to the large lab. A couple computers and desks sat alone in the middle, but nothing extraordinary.

"Um—" Magnus prompted.

"Wait for it," Nikola said, eyes sparkling as he punched a button. The other wall slowly lifted up, the blast door rising up into the gray ceiling. Behind it, a blinding light shone forth, glowing between two of what I could only assume were emitters.

I don't get it.

"What is that?" I asked. Sure, the glowing thing was pretty, but did it have some sort of purpose?

"That's a rift node," Henry exclaimed.

"It's Adam's design. With significant improvements, of course," Nikola pronounced proudly.

"What is all this for?" Magnus repeated.

"Power," Nikola grinned. "As much as you need, whenever you need it."

"You're drawing energy from the rift." An excitement was growing in Henry's eyes.

"The node creates a stable rift field roughly half the size of this facility. I can tap into it whenever I want. Picture it-unlimited clean energy right beneath our fingertips. No more wars on oil, no more nuclear meltdowns, no more insufferable celebrities telling us to "go green", and all because of the genius of one man," Nikola tooted his own horn.

Magnus would not be swayed. "Adam Worth," she concluded, nodding.

The smile didn't even falter on Nikola's face. "Mock if you will, but you know very well this is the culmination of my life's work. Ever since Edison stole my ideas over a hundred years ago, I've been searching for a way to destroy that Menlo Park windbag, and now I finally I have it. 12 hours ago, I ran a test. I was able to draw enough energy to power the island of Manhattan for a week."

"Did you say 12 hours ago?" Magnus jumped in.

"Yes, I know what you're thinking," Nikola sighed. "It _roughly_ coincides with the appearance of our multi-tentacled friend, I admit it."

"I'd say it's more than a rough coincidence, Nikola. If that creature is indeed from the rift, then your node could be interfering with its habitat somehow, allowing it, or even causing it, to hunt in our physical reality. You need to shut it down." She eyed him harshly.

"Are you crazy? It's taken me months to stabilize the field," he protested.

"So what, you're just gonna let that thing keep attacking people?" Henry countered incredulously.

"Listen, if a rat gets loose in my house, I don't destroy the house, I kill the rat," he reasoned. That got a smile out of me, although I crushed it almost immediately.

"I'm not asking you to blow it up, I'm just saying turn it off."

"I can't," Nikola said, although he really shouldn't have been still smiling. "That's the beauty of this system. Once the field is stabilized, the node draws energy from the rift to maintain it. It's self-sustaining."

"Well, luckily, I've brought the world's foremost expert in taking things apart," Magnus challenged him. "Henry?"

"I'm on it," Henry nearly jumped at the opportunity.

"Are you kidding me? Him? No- wait, don't touch that! Just hold on. All right, fine. I'll find a way to shut it down. Just tell furriest George to keep his hands in his pockets," Nikola spat.

"In the meantime, I'm going to search for the surviving members of your staff-or should I say future members of the class action suit against you, help them find a way out of here. Keep me posted, Henry. Tayla, with me," Magnus ordered, still using her annoyed voice.

"Every time she shows up," Nikola muttered as we walked out, stunners held at the ready in front of us.

"Nikola," Magnus cursed as we continued along. My ears were alert for any sounds that might be his stranded lab helpers or the creature reappearing. "Always getting himself into these messes. And who has to clean it up? Me. Oxford, Paris, Venice, Rome, Mexico, Colombia, Egypt, and, our newest addition, Area 51." She counted them off on her fingers. There was a faint murmur of voices. Had I been a cat, my ears would have perked up.

"This way," I interrupted Magnus's tirade to which I had long since stopped listening. After a few more turns, we came upon a door with people peering through the marbled glass beside it. At the sight of us, a few let out cheers and sighs of relief. They unlocked the door and we (mostly me) removed the heavy bookcase that they had used to barricade it. The woman with whom Nikola had flirted earlier stepped into place beside Magnus, a fact that Magnus looked none too happy about.

"You and Nikki, you've known each other for a long time?" she babbled.

"Yeah, you could say that," Magnus replied evasively.

"He talks about you a lot, all the adventures you've had together," she went on, "they sound incredible."

"I'm sure he's exaggerating," Magnus responded, tight-lipped.

"You shouldn't be mad at him. He's really an amazing man," she gushed. Suddenly, she shrieked as the lights flashed, pointing in front of us. It was back.

"Run!" Magnus ordered the civilians, who took off in the opposite direction. I shot the stunner a few times, but it only seemed to take out one tentacle at a time and there were too many swirling tentacles to have a chance at hitting the thing's main body.

"Henry, the creature's back! You need to shut down that field!" Magnus shouted into her earpiece.

"Uh, we're not there yet, Doc," his voice came through mine.

"Well, get there! Now!" she demanded, turning and trailing the civilians, trying to protect their back. After one last shot, I followed.

We rammed to a stop outside of two dark gray doors. "I can't open it!" Nikola's assistant cried, the blinking interface glowing red.

"Anytime, Henry!" Magnus shouted. The civilians fled again down another hallway, all except Nikola's assistant, who, terrified, instead plastered herself against the door with an expression of horror on her face. We took up defensive positions at that point, but I wasn't sure how much good it would do.

She rift opened for a second time and the creature came out, tentacles flailing. Magnus shot it a few times, having just about as much luck as I did. The rift gradually got smaller, however, sucking the creature back in—much to our relief.

"Well done. You did it!" Magnus congratulated him.

"Uh...Yeah, no, we didn't," Henry answered, with real fear in his voice for the first time.

"What are you talking about?"

"The rift field's coming back online."

"That's impossible. I shut down the node entirely," Nikola said into Henry's earpiece.

"I don't know what to tell you, dude. It's powering itself without the node. Not only that, but it's growing," Henry responded to him.

"Do you know what this means?" Nikola's voice had an odd quality to it.

"It won't be long before it extends beyond the facility."

"Yes, yes, yes, but more importantly, I did it. I invented wireless electricity," he said wonderingly.

The earpiece went silent, but Magnus nearly hurled her stunner into the ground and shattered it into a million pieces. After checking that the scientists had made it out, she strode back to the lab at an incredible speed with me bobbing in her tumultuous wake.

"Hey," Henry greeted her sullenly. "Scientists get out okay?"

"Yeah, they're all safe. What's the status of the rift?"

"Still growing. At the rate it's going, it'll reach Alamogordo by morning," Henry informed her, then added as an afterthought: "That would be a horrible country song."

"And him?" Magnus nodded angrily towards Nikola's back.

"Him? Oh, he's working on his Nobel speech. Wants to call his invention Tesla-tricity."

"Not a bad name," I shrugged.

"Blimey," she uttered.

"I know what you're going to say, Helen. But we simply can't shut down the rift until I know more about how it works," he protested, interrupting our conversation.

"Be reasonable, Nikola. If that creature gets loose in a populated area—"

"Am I the only one who recognizes the potential of this technology? It could revolutionize the world. End poverty, starvation—"

"Lives," Magnus cut in.

"Every advancement in history has had some kind of human toll," he said exasperatedly.

"So, what number are you thinking? 50? 50,000? Look, for all we know, there could be more of those creatures, and as the field expands, it could draw them out."

"You're speculating."

"It doesn't belong here, Nikola, and if we're not careful, we'll lose control of the situation entirely. I'm sorry, but we have no choice." She did have actual regret in her eyes as she said this, but her resolve was firm.

"Fine," Nikola spat with a last look of misery at his invention—what I'm sure was his pride and joy. The culmination of his life's work so far. His great technological contribution of this century to the world.

"You know, this could have been a banner year for you. In the current climate, a woman with your expertise, not to mention arresting good looks, you would have been in high demand, but you chose to cut yourself off from the world," Nikola pointed out.

"Oh, silly me," she retorted sarcastically. "Missing the chance to play patsy to a government gone mad."

"Please, get over yourself. You know very well these directives change like the weather. And besides, there's more than one way to skin a system. You chose to fight from the outside. I choose to fight from within."

"Oh. Oh, is that what you're doing? Right, and the abnormals under your care, are they in on it, too? Tell me, what happens when the government realizes that their research into abnormal-based weaponry has fallen behind under your watch? Better yet, what happens when you leave to start your own utility company? Planning on taking the abnormals with you as an advisory board?" She was really going into a rage now.

"You're unpleasant when you use rhetoricals," Nikola complained.

"Do you think I want to be left out in the cold, fighting world powers at every turn? I had no choice. This was the only way I could continue to operate without betraying everything that the Sanctuary stands for."

"Yeah, how's that working for you? I'm just saying, Helen, there's a fine line between passion and fanaticism."

"And there's a fine line between compliance and surrender. Let's just hope we're both on the right side of it...Nikki."

"Wait, that's it," Nikola interrupted their less-than-friendly banter. "Of course."

"What?"

"Heinrich, how do you dissipate an electromagnetic field?" he asked, turning to Henry.

"Increase resistance to the electrical curr…" His eyes went wide. "Wait, that's it. Of course."

"He's a smart one," Nikola commented.

"Care to fill me in?" Magnus requested.

"And me," I added.

"The field is sustaining itself by drawing power from the rift. But if we re-activate the node and add resistance to that flow of energy, the field will collapse on itself. It's like stalling an engine. The only downfall—" Henry explained.

"Heat. We'll need to beef up the shielding on the Cerellium core," Nikola finished.

"Shouldn't be an issue if you have enough titanium on hand," Henry said. At the word, I shuddered involuntarily.

"Which I do. Small problem."

"What?"

"It's on the other side of the facility."

"We've no choice but to get it. Someone should stay here, make sure nothing changes," Magnus suggested.

"I'll do it," I volunteered. "I'm not a big fan of titanium anyway."

"Okay," Magnus agreed. "Now, Nikola, lead us to those rods." They exited the room together, leaving me to spin around in the swivel chair while keeping a watchful eye on the rift.

After a while, I tapped my earpiece. "Almost there?" I asked.

"Nearly. Big facility," she replied tersely.

"Okay."

"Wait. The creature, it's back. Henry. Henry!" There was a staticky crackle. I hit my earpiece frantically.

"Magnus? Magnus?! What's going on?"

A few seconds later, her voice, filled with sorrow beyond measure, replied simply, "It took Henry."

My heart fell through my chest. That couldn't have happened. It couldn't.

I sat in a stupor until Nikola's voice awoke me.

"Well, it's done. The titanium rods will keep the node from overheating," he sighed unhappily.

"Good. Get on with it," she ordered in a sharp, uncaring voice.

"Once the field collapses, the creature, and anything else, will be sealed inside the rift," he warned.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Better do it before the creature claims another victim." Though she was being practical, her voice nearly broke at _victim. _Nikola began typing on his computer at once, only to stop as a window with a flashing red dot popped up.

"What the hell is that?" he asked.

"It can't be. It's impossible," he breathed.

"You recognize it?"

"It's Henry's tracking signal. Similar to the one we used to find this place. This means he might be alive somewhere!"

"It's coming from inside a cave pocket. Inside the rift field, underneath the facility."

"The creature must be adapting to our physical environment. I suspect it's built a nest somewhere."

"There," I added.

"Well, there's no way in or out. It's solid rock."

"Then we have no choice."

"What? What, you're not seriously considering—"

"When Adam Worth trapped me in that warehouse, he traveled through the rift using a serious of predetermined exit points," Magnus argued.

"Yes, with an emphasis on _predetermined_. You're talking about locking onto a tracking signal through an inter-dimensional void. If I'm off by even the slightest margin—"

"I have faith in you."

"Fine, but you're not going, I am. The burns and radiation sickness won't affect me. Vampire."

"Yes. I blame myself for that."

"I'll go too. It might have him cocooned somewhere; it'll be faster with the two of us," I stated. Nikola nodded at me.

"However, I am going to need someone on the outside to distract the creature long enough for me to get in, grab Wolfgang, and get out. Just in case you thought you were getting off easy," he warned her. She disappeared out the door without a second glance.

Nikola pulled himself toward the keyboard and began typing furiously. "All right, I'm going to modulate the field and try to bring out the creature. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Good luck, Nikola, Tayla," she replied.

"You too. And..." he hit the enter key.

"How will we know if it worked?" I asked. "How do we know the prospect of eating immortal Magnus is better than a meal at home of the werewolf variety?"

Nikola replied quite simply. "We don't."

"Great."

"And I thought we weren't allowed to call him a werewolf?"

"We call me a vampire when I'm technically a branch off from that, or vampire superabnormal."

"Touché."

"HAP, werewolf…no difference in my mind."

"You don't like them much, do you?"

"Werewolves? No."

"Me neither."

"It's ingrained."

"Yeah." Pause. "Okay, ready? Here goes nothing." The rift opens up in the empty space in front of the desk. With a snarl, my fangs elongate and my nails grow. I can hear Nikola's similar growl behind me. We walk in step through the rift.

It was dizzying, a swirling blue light, and then it was over. Not nearly as bad as going back in time, but still. We came out in a cavern, with Nikola immediately calling, "Henry?"

"Over here!" came the faint response.

"My God..." Nikola voiced my thoughts. Henry was suck against the wall in some sort of hardened-sludge-like substance.

"Oh, man, I can't believe you came. Now, get me out of here," Henry sighed in relief.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Nikola commented.

"Huh?"

"Fascinating," Nikola marveled at it.

"Excuse me?" Henry asked incredulously. Nikola pulled out a knife, the sight of which was not reassuring to Henry.

"Should do the trick," Nikola pondered.

"P-pardon?"

"Easy does it, easy does it..." Nikola murmured as he began hacking at the stuff less than a millimeter away from Henry's immobilized arm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he protested.

I started on the other arm, pulling the knife on my calf out. Its titanium blade didn't fare as well as Nikola's, but it helped.

"Hey, could you maybe pick it up a little bit?" Henry requested.

"I'm sorry, are you rushing me? Because I seem to recall when the roles were reversed in Colombia, you taking your sweet time—"

"Okay, but, dude, we're in its nest!"

"Right. Cutting," Nikola reformed, more than tripling his speed with large but often quite accurate hacking swipes. "Seriously, what is this stuff made of?"

"Whoa!" Henry shouted in alarm. "Uh, Nikki?" he gestured behind us with his lone free arm. The creature. It's back.

"Oh boy," Nikola muttered. With our combined strength, we practically ripped Henry out of the wall. "Let's go!" Nikola shouted, pressing the button on his device. We three stumbled through the newly opened rift.

I'm vaguely aware of Magnus calling our names. Suddenly, a huge tentacle reached out and snatched at Nikola, and it took all of Henry and my energy to keep him grounded here. The rift closed. We were safe.

"Thanks," Nikola said, albeit grudgingly. "Well, that's six months of my life I'll never get back."

"Well, lucky for you there's a lot more where that came from," Magnus reminded him.

"Huh?"

She almost grinned. "Vampire, remember?"

He smiled, then looked around. "Nevertheless, I think we can end this experiment now."

"Good," I intoned.

**Thanks all! Next chapter is going to be quick (and **_**not**_** an episode)!**


	37. Titanium

February 1, 2012

"Tayla!"

The whisper came somewhere from my right side, but I couldn't tell where. I was sitting in the conference room by myself, in a plush red armchair that never got used because, I quote Magnus, "it's too distracting." Apparently not too distracting from reading a book, which I was doing just fine.

"Tayla!"

"Nikola?" I asked incredulously.

"In the flesh." He zoomed to stand beside me in less than a second.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I came by to drop off some SCIU information that didn't make it onto Henry's tablet. Boorish wolf that he is, he only brought with him his 32GB iPad and all this was left." He handed me a black and red flash drive.

"Why are you here at…" I checked the time, "eleven o'clock at night?"

"SCIU is keeping a closer watch on me. I'm pretending to have retired early," he shrugged. "Where are Magnus and the rest of the gang?"

"Mission."

"Then I have a proposition for you."

"Yes?"

"Well, you see, the rift nodes weren't the only Praxian technology I was working with. In short, I think I have a cure."

"Cure for what, exactly?"

"Your issues with titanium."

"Meaning?"

"It wouldn't affect you anymore."

Now, that did sound alluring. "You have titanium issues as well, right? Did you test this formula on yourself?"

"No," he paused. "Your newly unique Sanguine Vampirisa branch of vampire does, while giving you superabnormal powers, give you a higher susceptibility to titanium. Though I cannot break through it, it doesn't affect my changing as it does you."

"Okay," I said.

"Okay?"

"Okay, let's try it."

He looked surprised at my compliance. "I believe there's still a room with a vampire proof chair from when you held my creation Laura?" he asked.

"Yes."

"It would be a good place to test my procedure."

Once I was settled in the chair, I started to have doubts, and it seemed Nikola did too. "Get on with it," I told him. The _beep_, _beep_ of the machines around us counted out my heartbeat, which was steady and mostly normal, only slightly elevated from nervousness.

"You remember this has never been tested before," Nikola said, holding the ready syringe filled with a dark red liquid. "We have no idea what—"

I gestured to myself as well as I could while held with titanium webbing to a restraint chair. "Sanguine Vampirisa. What's the worst that could happen?"

"It could De-Vamp you," he suggested.

"Ah, I see your evil plan now," I said, "You are going to purposely De-Vamp me so you can be the only vampire in the world." I said it jokingly, but I watched him closely for a reaction. He only smiled, showing his vampire fangs.

"Well, that would reduce our future fun," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Just get on with it. We only have so long before Magnus gets back. She'd flip if she found you experimenting on her daughter." He flicked the needle and inserted it into my skin, pressing the plunger down with an expert hand. For a moment, nothing happened. "Well, that's—" My breath caught in my chest. A closing pressure compacted in on it; my lungs were on fire for air. The _beep_, _beep_ of the machines sped up to critical levels. I thrashed against the restraints. It felt like my entire body was radiating heat. My vision went increasingly fuzzy and I lost track of Nikola. Then my eyes rolled back into my head.

My eyes blinked open, but everything was fuzzy. They closed again, but I hung onto this piece, if blurry, of reality. Nikola was at the counter I noticed as I blinked again and my vision improved. I looked around. The machine beeped beside my bed, but I wasn't in the restraining chair anymore. I was lying slightly propped up on a bed in the infirmary. My hair rustled against the pillow as I turned my head to see if anyone else besides Nikola was here. No one else was. At the sound Nikola turned around. He came toward me and sat on the stool next to my bed. "Welcome back," he said.

"What happened?" I asked, blinking.

"Oh, nothing to worry about," he said.

"Nikola..."

"All right, all right! Your heart...just...stopped...a little."

"Nikola! I died?"

"I brought you back!" he protested in his defense. I glanced at the empty gurney on the left side of the room. "Those paddles really work," he said, smiling slightly. I glanced down at myself. The manila covers were pulled up to my chest. I was dressed in blue silk hospital clothing—wait a minute, blue silk hospital clothing? That was _not_ what I'd been wearing before the experimental Praxian-Tesla cure. He didn't... I looked up at him. He grinned. I threw my head back against the pillow and crossed my arms. I glared at him.

"Tell me you didn't, Nikola."

"I'll leave you to rest," he said. Ever the gentleman.

"No, stay where I can see you," I said, "Magnus, Henry, and Will are off on that mission until two in the morning and Big Guy's off negotiating with some of his abnormal friends, which leaves me in charge. Unfortunately, that also requires a close eye on you, seeing as you're here." He pulled his rolling stool up to the small table by my bed that had one of the Sanctuary laptops on it. He was running on battery power, but he didn't seem to care. "How long was I out?" I asked. He looked over at me and glanced at his watch.

"Not too long. It's around midnight."

"_Midnight?_ Magnus is getting back at two!"

"More like 12:30, actually," he said.

"All right, that's it, I'm getting out of here," I said as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and threw the covers off.

"I'll see you to your room?" he offered.

"No, I'm good," I said as my bare feet hit the cold marble floor.

"I wouldn't do that if I were—" he began. Too late. I stood up—and promptly fell over in exhaustion. In a split second he caught me, his arm looping around my waist, hugging me sort of to his chest.

"Told you," he said, "I'll see you to your room." I sighed, knowing I really couldn't refuse this time, or I'd never make it. We got to the door before I gave up.

"How about you just get me some animal plasma?" I asked.

"I thought I wasn't allowed out of your sight?" he said innocently.

"Just go."

I was on my knees before he even rounded the corner. It seemed I was climbing a mountain to reach the doorknob. The door sprung open for me, Aeya sitting on the other side. She eyed me with an inscrutable expression before morphing before my eyes. She sat back on her hind legs as her body gently elongated and her fur faded away, leaving a young bare girl standing in front of me. She gently pulled me to my feet and half-led, half-dragged me onto the bed. By the time Nikola came back, however, Aeya was once more seated at the door in cat form. Werecat.

With his superior strength, he lifted me up and tucked me into the covers. His eyes met mine before handing me a full glass of scarlet liquid. I drained it in a few gulps, but my eyes were already closing.

"Get out of here," I mumbled. "Go back before SCIU realizes where you've gone."

When I woke up to late morning sunlight streaming in through my window, he was nowhere to be found. The flash drive was sitting on my dresser, but it was the only sign of his presence last night. I took a deep breath and went down to meet Magnus.

Magnus and I stepped into the elevator together. It glided slowly down, coming to a stop on the infirmary level. We had both managed to get away because Henry and Will had spontaneously decided to take Anjali on a short trip to the local theme park. We'd all been invited to come along, but Magnus and I declined, saying that we would keep an eye on things here.

Magnus punched in the code and the door opened to Ashley's infirmary room. Ashley remained stationary as ever as her mother changed the IV bags, murmuring to her all the while. After we left, Magnus asked for the status of the New Sanctuary.

"It's coming along well," I answered. "The western habitats are finally finished. The money set aside for the book scanning that we repurposed to the geothermal power means that only a fourth of the library's books' contents have been scanned into the computer, but geothermal is at its maximum production and our power storage capabilities have gotten a huge upgrade. I believe with only the most essential systems running we will have enough to sustain the facility for a year."

"A year?" Magnus asked. "Impressive. That's three times the team's original estimate. What exactly does the 'power save mode' entail?"

"All the habitats are sustained but there's minimal lighting everywhere else, the rooms motion sensors will activate and the lights will only go on when someone walks into the area. The computer systems will automatically go into standby at all times, but they're fast enough booting that it doesn't really matter. The elevators will cease to work without a Level Three passcode, but the infirmary is the one area that will not be affected. Lights, computers, equipment—all the same."

"What about security during this time?"

"Security cameras, EM shield, perimeter sensors—all of that will work normally."

"Good. How progresses the tunnel to Hollow Earth?"

"The team tells me it is as far as we can go without being discovered by anyone down there. It won't be completed until the Old Sanctuary is gone and Kate is informed about this place."

"Speaking of which," Magnus pondered as we arrived back on our own front door, "we should start dealing with the removal of personal items."

"Okay, but won't Henry or Will notice they are missing?"

"Anything that is an object that cannot be bought again will have to be moved in the final stages with the abnormals. During the final stages, I am sure Will and Henry will be so engrossed in their own work that they won't notice a few missing belongings."

"What about their stuff?"

"Same idea, but for paper items, scanning them and putting the original in the New Sanctuary and the copy here is a good idea."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll start in my room and then do Kate's. If they notice anything missing, we can just say that she requested it shipped down to Hollow Earth."

We parted ways and I turned the corner and slipped into my room. Aeya sat on the bed, watching me with slitted eyes.

_The time has almost come._

_Soon,_ I replied.


End file.
